Rep. Maxine Waters' Letter to Colleagues

“ I think we have to examine very carefully what Congress authorized the president to do in the context of a situation if we're faced with an all-out civil war and whether we have to come back to the Congress to get further indication of support.” – Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, August 3, 2006

September 6, 2006

Dear Democratic Colleague:

I invite you to cosponsor (waters.147), a sense of the House of Representatives resolution declaring that Public Law 107-243, which authorized the use of military force against Iraq in 2002, is outdated and that Congress should debate and vote on a new resolution to reflect the current situation in Iraq.

In October 2002, Congress passed H J Res 114, which became Public Law 107-243, citing Iraq’s possessing and continued interest in developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and its support for and harboring of terrorist organizations. However, in the aftermath of the war, it became clear that the Administration’s claims about Iraq’s weapons programs were untrue and there was no relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. Additional investigations revealed that the Bush Administration hyped the intelligence the United States had on Iraq in order to sell the American people and the Congress on going to war in Iraq.

With the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, one of the holiest places for Shiite Muslims, on February 22, 2006, Iraq descended into a level of sectarian violence that can only be described as a civil war. Thousands of Iraqis have been murdered, often by gruesome methods. The United Nations estimates that more than 14,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq in the first half of 2006. Most political scientists define a civil war as a war between different sections or parties of the same country or nation in which casualties are in excess of 1,000. Clearly, the death toll in Iraq has far exceeded this level and Iraq is embroiled in a civil war.

With Iraq fighting a civil war and the lack of weapons of mass destruction or a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, the terms of Public Law 107-243 are no longer are applicable. Therefore, Congress should debate and vote on a new resolution authorizing a US military presence in Iraq.

If you would like to cosponsor H Res XX, please contact me or Michael Rose of my staff at 225-2201 or mike.rose@mail.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Maxine Waters
Member of Congress