H.746 is a bill to bring the Vermont National Guard back from Iraq. Sponsored by Rep. Mike Fisher (D-Lincoln), H.746 asserts that all authority for deployment of the national guard has expired and calls on the Governor to order our Vermont contingent home immediately.
The bill lays out the legal authority for any deployment of the national guard outside the United States. In the case of the Iraq war, that power comes exclusively from the law passed by Congress in October 2002 authorizing use of military force against Iraq. That law permits the President to use the armed forces (including the state national guard) for only two purposes:
1) to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq (i.e. weapons of mass destruction), and
2) to enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.
Because there is no other lawful basis for the deployment of Vermont’s National Guard, and because both of those purposes have already been met (there are no WMD and no outstanding UN security resolutions to be enforced), there is no legal basis for Vermont’s National Guard to continue service in Iraq. The bill therefore directs our Governor to take all necessary steps to withdraw Vermont National Guard units from Iraq.
Click here to read the bill (which lays out the legal argument very clearly).
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