In a 139-288 vote on Wednesday, lawmakers defeated a resolution, introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern (DMass.), requiring the US president to remove American troops within the next six months.
The vote came 10 months after Obama authorized an open-ended military campaign against the ISIL terrorists without a formal congressional approval for military action against the group.
McGoverns measure was defeated despite criticism from members of Congress that the Obama administration has been waging an unauthorized war.
Under the War Powers Act of 1973, a US president has to obtain congressional authorization to continue any military action longer than 30 days.
McGovern accused lawmakers of being guilty of moral cowardice by refusing to authorize or end a war that is costing over $9 million a day and putting American troops in harms way.
Either Congress needs to live up to its responsibilities and authorize this war, or by its continuing neglect and indifference our troops should be withdrawn and allowed to come home, he said.
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Rep. Jim McGovern (DMass.)[/caption]The White House has been citing the 2001 and 2002 authorizations of military force (AUMF) in Afghanistan and Iraq as the legal basis for the current war against ISIL.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the use of war powers approved before the ISIL group even existed sets a terrible precedent.
We didnt vote for perpetual war, and we need a new AUMF, added Engel, who opposed the resolution.
About 3,500 US troops are currently overseas in the campaign against ISIL, which the White House says are mostly acting as advisers or trainers for Iraqi forces. The US is also conducting airstrikes on ISIL positions in both Iraq and Syria.
Senior US military officials cautioned the White House against deepening the US involvement in Iraq as President Obama was weighing deploying another 450 military personnel to Iraq last week.
Recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria have raised serious doubts about Obamas strategy against ISIL.
ISIL Takfiri militants, who currently control some areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria, have been committing atrocities against all religious and ethnic groups in the region.
The US and its regional allies, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, have been supporting what they call moderate militants fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many of those militants are believed to have joined the brutal ISIL group.
By Press TV
