The Maryland National Guard serve in Iraq under what is known as the 2002 Congressional Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). In this 2002 AUMF, Congress limited military action in Iraq to two purposes: (1) defending the national security from Iraqi threats and (2) enforcing UN Security Council Resolutions relating to the 1991 Gulf War.

The purposes set forth in the 2002 AUMF have been achieved. That is, there are no Iraqi threats to the U.S. –in fact, there never were-- and there are no more 1991-era Security Council resolutions. Neither the 2002 AUMF nor any other law allows for an indefinite assignment of State Guard members to the National Guard of the U.S.

So there is no legal authority for the Maryland guard to be sent to Iraq. It is, in fact, illegal to send them there under the U.S. constitution and the governor should refuse to allow them to be federalized.

The proposed legislation states that the Maryland Guard may only be called into federal service for legal purposes. In the absence of legal authority, the Maryland Guard must remain within the State.

A coalition of 23 groups throughout the state came together to pass legislation. State Sen. Richard Madaleno will introduce this legislation possibly this week to the MD General Assembly, requiring that the MD National Guard only be called into Federal service for legal purposes and that in the absence of legal authority, the Guard should remain within the State of MD.

At present, any deployment of National Guard troops to Iraq lacks lawful authorization, regardless of a new administration. The legislation has interrelated goals. The main ones are:

•Preventing wars of aggression, or military adventurism by any future administration.
•Restoring and preserving fairness to the men and women of our National Guard;
•Restoring the rule of law and the premise that even the government must follow the law; and
•Restoring the Constitutional principle that war powers are shared between Congress and the President.

We should be calling upon President Obama to reverse the illegal policy of using the National Guard as a backdoor draft. We want him and all future presidents to use the National Guard only with valid Congressional authority. For more information on this campaign and support the proposed legislation, please go to www.MDGuardHome.org