Thursday, March 28, 2024

Baghdad

Congress passes resolution requiring Congress approval as condition for sending troops to Iraq

Congress passes resolution requiring Congress approval as condition for sending troops to Iraq

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a resolution requiring authorization from Congress for a sustained presence of combat troops in Iraq, U.S. media reported.

With bipartisan support, the House adopted the resolution by a vote of 370-40, news website The Hill reported.

Recent weeks have seen the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) rolling through parts of northern Iraq, which put the Middle East country back in the international spotlight after U.S. troops pulled out in 2011.

The ISIL’s gains have prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to dispatch 300 military advisors to the war-torn nation in a bid to halt further advances by the terrorists.

Democratic Representative Jim McGovern, the sponsor of the resolution, said Congress should at a minimum debate the consequences of sending U.S. military forces to Iraq.

“We owe at least that much to our men and women in uniform and families and we owe that much to our Democratic institution,” The Hill quoted McGovern as saying.

Democratic Representative Barbara Lee said passage of the resolution would affirm the role of Congress in authorizing military operations abroad.

“After more than a decade at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of lives and billions of dollars lost, the need for Congress to reclaim its war-making powers is critical,” Lee said, according to The Hill. /End/

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