WASHINGTON – Today, at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senator Tom Udall once again pressed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis about the need for congressional authority – an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) – if the United States continues to engage in the military conflict in the Middle East. Udall reiterated his longstanding position that Americans are very skeptical of unending war in the Middle East, the longest in our history. He said that the conflict has changed dramatically since Congress voted to authorize force after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that Congress must debate and approve a new AUMF with clear limits that take into account the current fight, which has expanded to include Syria and other surrounding regions.
Although Iraqi troops have pushed out ISIL, security forces are fragmented, and Udall warned that it is very uncertain whether the Iraqi government will be able to maintain control and prevent the fragmentation of security forces.
“Kurdish aspirations of nationhood may just be the tip of the iceberg. I am concerned we are ending up on multiple sides of a complicated conflict in a post-ISIL Iraq and Syria,” Udall told Tillerson and Mattis. “It was reported that the Iraqi Prime Minister was pretty blunt in his response about Shia-Iranian backed militias in Iraq, stating that they are already home and not going anywhere – and that maybe U.S. forces should leave. If U.S. forces are told to leave, will we depart Iraq, or will we stay uninvited as our forces are doing in Syria, and under what legal authority will they remain?”
Tillerson responded that the United States will remain until ISIL is defeated and continue to help train security forces. And – when Udall asked the question again – Tillerson added that the United States will stay under the authority of the 2001 AUMF, even without permission from the Iraqi government, and even if the Iraqi government were to tell the United States to leave.
“Secretary Tillerson’s answer is extremely concerning and could lead to increased tensions in the region. I’m glad that ISIL is on the run, and I hope that we are planning for the next phase, which I believe should be led by Iraqis, not the United States,” Udall said afterward. “There are a lot of challenges remaining in Iraq and Syria, and I believe that Congress needs to have a debate on the scope and timeline of any future AUMF. I have been clear that I believe there should be firm limits on any new AUMF and that the 9/11 AUMF, which we are currently operating under, is overly broad. I hope we can consider a new AUMF soon before we are once again committed to another conflict that the American people, through their elected representatives, have not approved.”
