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Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress

Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
2023-03-29 00:00:00 - From: Iraq News

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the resolution that gave a green light for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, an effort to return a basic war power to Congress from the White House 20 years after an authorization many now say was a mistake.

Iraqi deaths are estimated in the hundreds of thousands, and nearly 5,000 U.S. troops were killed in the war after President George W. Bush's administration falsely claimed that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

"This body rushed into a war," said Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who has pushed for years to repeal the powers. The war has had "massive consequences," Kaine said.

Senators voted 66-30 to repeal the 2002 measure and also the 1991 authorization that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War. If passed by the House, the repeal would not be expected to affect any current military deployments. But lawmakers in both parties are increasingly seeking to claw back congressional powers over U.S. military strikes and deployments, and some lawmakers who voted for the Iraq War two decades ago now say that was a mistake.

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"Americans want to see an end to endless Middle East wars," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, adding that passing the repeal "is a necessary step to putting these bitter conflicts squarely behind us."

Supporters, including almost 20 Republican senators, say the repeal is crucial to prevent future abuses and to reinforce that Iraq is now a strategic partner of the United States. Opponents say the repeal could project weakness as the U.S. still faces conflict in the Middle East.

"Our terrorist enemies aren't sunsetting their war against us," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who is at home recovering from a fall earlier this month and missed the vote. "When we deploy our servicemembers in harm's way, we need to supply them with all the support and legal authorities that we can."

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Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., listens to testimony during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting at the Capitol in Washington, on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021.

The repeal's future is less certain in the House, where 49 Republicans joined with Democrats in supporting a similar bill two years ago. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has suggested he is open to supporting a repeal even though he previously opposed it, but Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has indicated he would like to instead replace it with something else. But it is unclear what that would be.

Kaine and Todd Young, R-Ind., who led the effort together, have said they believe a strong bipartisan vote sends a powerful message to Americans who believe their voices should be heard on matters of war and peace. Read the full story here:

Photos: 20 years after U.S. invasion, young Iraqis see signs of hope

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A man has his beard shaved by a barber in Fallujah, Iraq, on Thursday, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A motorized rickshaw, or tuk tuk, rides past the entrance of Abu Ghraib, Iraq, west of Baghdad, on Thursday, March 2, 2023. For Iraqis, the war and U.S. occupation which started two decades ago were traumatic – an estimated 300,000 Iraqis were killed between 2003 and 2019, according to an estimate by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, in addition to some 4,000 Americans. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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The sun sets over Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, March 2, 2023. A U.S.-led war twenty years ago deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A man makes his way to the al-Kadhimayn shrine in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Youths gather along the Tigris River for a concert by rap artist OG Khalifa in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. One of the songs he performed mocks “sheikhs,” those who wield power in the new Iraq through wealth or political connections. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Pensioners, some of whom were prisoners of war during the first Gulf War, demonstrate outside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. A U.S.-led war two decades earlier deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Youths wait for a ride on the bridge crossing the Euphrates River in Fallujah, Iraq, Thursday, March 2, 2023. In 2004, four armed contractors working for the private military contractor Blackwater were killed and their bodies hung from the bridge. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Riot police take position on the outskirts of the Green Zone as pensioners, some of whom were prisoners of war during the first Gulf War, demonstrate in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. A U.S.-led war two decades earlier deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A family drinks tea at the Alshabander cafe on Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Women stand on the "martyrs' bridge" spanning the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A man holds his cellphone near Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Worshippers gather for Friday prayers in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, on Friday, March 3, 2023. This working-class, conservative and largely Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad is home to more than 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Youths gather along the Tigris River for a concert by rap artist OG Khalifa in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. One of the songs he performs mocks “sheikhs,” those who wield power in the new Iraq through wealth or political connections. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A U.S.-branded muscle car speeds through the streets of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A family heads to the al-Kadhimayn shrine in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023. For Iraqis, the war and U.S. occupation which started two decades ago were traumatic – an estimated 300,000 Iraqis were killed between 2003 and 2019, according to an estimate by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, in addition to some 4,000 Americans. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Two students celebrate their graduation at the upscale Qalaat Baghdad restaurant complex built in a former palace of Saddam Hussein along the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Safaa Rashid looks into a security camera in a Baghdad cafe, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The 26-year-old was a child when the Americans arrived in 2003, but he said he rues "the loss of a state, a country that had law and establishment." (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Noor Alhuda Saad, 26, a Ph.D. candidate at Mustansiriya University who describes herself as a political activist, sits in a Baghdad cafe on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. She says her generation has been leading protests decrying corruption, demanding services and seeking more inclusive elections -- and won’t stop till they’ve built a better Iraq. “The people in power do not see these as important issues for them to solve. And that is why we are active.” (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Members of a cycling club take to the roads for a 50-kilometer (31-mile) trip in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. The group organizes rides weekly for scores of men and women who see bike-riding as a healthy way to relieve life's stress and for good company. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A veiled woman walks through the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. This working-class, conservative and largely Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad is home to more than 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani sits for a portrait in his office in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Unlike other Shiite politicians who fled Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era, he never left Iraq, even after his father and five brothers were executed by the regime. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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In a long exposure photo, night sets on Firdos Square, the site where American soldiers downed a statue of Saddam Hussein two decades earlier in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Today's Iraq is a world away from the terror that followed the U.S. invasion to depose Saddam Hussein. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Young men chat near Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A man touches the door of the Office of the Martyr al-Sadr in Baghdad's Sadr City Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. This working-class, conservative and largely Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad is home to more than 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A man reads a book at the Alshabander cafe on Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. A U.S.-led war two decades earlier deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A woman walks through the narrow streets of Alsadria neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. For Iraqis, the trauma from the war and U.S. occupation launched twenty years ago is undeniable – an estimated 300,000 Iraqis were killed between 2003 and 2019, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, as were more than 8,000 U.S. military, contractors and civilians. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Mohammed Zuad Khaman, center, prepares kebabs at his family's cafe in one of Baghdad's poorer neighborhoods along King Ghazi Street on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. Khaman is a talented footballer, but he says he cannot get an opportunity to play in any of Baghdad's amateur clubs because he does not have any "in" with the militia-related gangs that control sports teams in the city. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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Muscle car aficionados gather at Baghdad's hippodrome to watch an informal drifting contest Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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The ferris wheel of Baghdad's Alzawraa amusement park shines in the night in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay
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A man holds a vintage stamps featuring King Faisal II near Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

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Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress
Senate votes to repeal 2002 measure that approved Iraq war, an effort to return war powers to Congress

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