•HRES 72 IH 
by the United States Government be made by treaty or 
statute; 
Whereas the Constitution of the United States gives Congress 
the power to declare war, to raise and support armies, to 
provide and maintain a navy, to make rules governing 
such forces, to provide for organizing and calling forth 
the militia, to make rules concerning captures on land 
and water, and to regulate commerce with foreign na-
tions; 
Whereas the Constitution of the United States also gives 
Congress the power to make all laws necessary for car-
rying out the powers vested in the Government, and the 
power to raise and spend money; 
Whereas in addition, the Senate has the responsibility of con-
firming appointments to diplomatic posts and by two- 
thirds vote must give its advice and consent to treaties 
before such treaties become effective; 
Whereas Congress, established in Article I of the Constitution 
of the United States, is a co-equal branch of the Govern-
ment, and each Member of Congress, regardless of polit-
ical party, must resist encroachment by the executive 
branch on the constitutional prerogatives of Congress; 
Whereas on November 26, 2007, and without congressional 
consultation or input, United States President George W. 
Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed 
the United States-Iraq Declaration of Principles for 
Friendship and Cooperation, a shared statement of intent 
that established common principles to frame the future 
relationship between the United States and Iraq; 
Whereas President Bush publicly stated that the relationship 
envisioned in the United States-Iraq Declaration of Prin-
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•HRES 72 IH 
ciples for Friendship and Cooperation includes coopera-
tion between the United States and Iraq in the political, 
diplomatic, economic, and security arenas; 
Whereas President Bush declared his intent, during 2008, to 
negotiate and conclude before he leaves office detailed ar-
rangements that will codify the bilateral relationship be-
tween the United States and Iraq following the expiration 
of the mandate of the Multi-National Force—Iraq under 
chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and the con-
comitant resumption of Iraq’s normal status as a state 
with full legal and functional sovereignty and authorities 
and the restoration of Iraq’s legal international status; 
Whereas on November 17, 2008, Iraqi Foreign Minister 
Hoshiyar Zebari and United States Ambassador to Iraq 
Ryan Crocker signed the Agreement Between the United 
States of America and the Republic of Iraq on the With-
drawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Orga-
nization of Their Activities During Their Temporary 
Presence in Iraq (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Agree-
ment’’); 
Whereas the procedure followed by the Government of Iraq 
required the Agreement to be submitted to and approved 
by Parliament, the national legislature of the Republic of 
Iraq, which approved the Agreement in December 2008; 
in contrast the Agreement has not been submitted by the 
President to the United States Congress for approval as 
contemplated by the Constitution; 
Whereas the Agreement contemplates a timetable that could 
leave United States troops in Iraq until December 31, 
2011, which would cost American taxpayers more than 
$360 billion based on current spending levels, money that 
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•HRES 72 IH 
can be drawn from the United States Treasury only by 
a congressionally authorized appropriation of funds; 
Whereas the Agreement undermines the constitutional powers 
of the next president by subjecting United States military 
operations to the approval of the Iraqi Government, not-
withstanding that throughout history, United States 
troops have been subjected to foreign control in peace-
keeping operations only where authorized under treaties 
ratified by the Senate; 
Whereas the Agreement subjects thousands of private mili-
tary contractors to Iraqi courts in the event that they are 
charged with crimes but does not specify the law to be 
applied or the procedural safeguards that must be ob-
served by Iraqi courts to ensure due process and equal 
justice; and 
Whereas President Bush’s claim that he alone is empowered 
by the Constitution to negotiate and conclude detailed ar-
rangements that will institutionalize the bilateral rela-
tionship between the United States and Iraq without any 
involvement of the Congress reflects a profound 
misreading of the Constitution: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the Agreement Between the United States 
of America and the Republic of Iraq on the With-
drawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the 
Organization of Their Activities During Their Tem-
porary Presence in Iraq (hereinafter referred to as 
the ‘‘Agreement’’) is not a genuine Status of Forces 
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•HRES 72 IH 
Agreement and lacks the force of law because it was 
formalized in a manner inconsistent with the re-
quirements of the United States Constitution; 
(2) Congress should consider the Agreement to 
be advisory in nature and should not be legally 
bound nor obligated to appropriate any of the funds 
necessary to carry out the terms of the Agreement; 
(3) the House of Representatives should con-
duct hearings during the 111th Congress to deter-
mine, inter alia, whether to authorize and fund the 
Agreement or to reject the Agreement to the extent 
that it— 
(A) contemplates the United States main-
taining United States troops in Iraq until De-
cember 31, 2011, at a cost of hundreds of bil-
lions of dollars to the United States Treasury; 
(B) subjects United States military oper-
ations to ‘‘the approval of the Iraqi govern-
ment’’, by giving operational control to ‘‘joint 
mobile operations command centers’’ controlled 
by a joint American-Iraqi committee; and 
(C) subjects thousands of private military 
contractors to Iraqi courts in the event that 
they are charged with serious crimes but does 
not specify what crimes are to be deemed ‘‘seri-
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•HRES 72 IH 
ous’’ and does not address the law to be applied 
or the procedural safeguards that must be ob-
served by Iraqi courts to ensure due process 
and equal justice; and 
(4) the House of Representatives should con-
duct hearings during the 111th Congress to deter-
mine the impact, if any, of the Agreement on the 
status of the nearly 50,000 Iraqi nationals held in 
preventive detention by the Iraqi Government and 
United States forces as well as any such foreign na-
tionals in Iraq who have been designated as ‘‘pro-
tected persons’’ under the Fourth Geneva Conven-
tion. 
Æ 
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