Opinion ID: 186241
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Legal and Military Developments in Iraq

Text: 12 As the proceedings in the District Court were running their course, the legal and military situation in Iraq was changing rapidly. In connection with Iraq's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in September 1990, Congress had passed various statutes imposing sanctions on Iraq and prohibiting the United States Government and private parties from sending assistance to Iraq or conducting business or trade with Iraq. Most notably, Congress enacted the Iraq Sanctions Act of 1990, which condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and provided for the maintenance of a trade embargo and economic sanctions against Iraq. See Pub. L. No. 101-513, §§ 586-586J, 104 Stat. 1979, 2047-55 (1990) (codified at 50 U.S.C. § 1701 note (2000)) (ISA). These provisions required that all assistance, exports, loans, credits, insurance, or other guarantees be denied to Iraq, with exceptions for limited humanitarian relief. Section 586F(c) of the ISA also required full enforcement against Iraq of § 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which prohibits the grant of any assistance to any country determined by the Secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism, Pub. L. No. 87-195, § 620A, as added Pub. L. No. 94-329, § 303, 90 Stat. 729, 753 (1976) (codified as amended at 22 U.S.C. § 2371) (FAA). Along with the FAA, the ISA required that several other enumerated provisions of law be fully enforced against Iraq, as well as all other provisions of law that impose sanctions against a country which has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. ISA § 586F(c), 104 Stat. 1979, 2051. 13 Both the Iraq Sanctions Act and the Foreign Assistance Act provide for rescission of the prohibitions they impose on aid to Iraq and other designated states, but only after the President certifies to Congress that there has been a fundamental change in the government or policies of the designated state and that the leadership is no longer supporting acts of terrorism. See ISA § 586H, 104 Stat. 1979, 2052-53; FAA, 22 U.S.C. § 2371(c) (2000). A similar certification is required to rescind the Secretary of State's determination under the Export Administration Act that Iraq is a country that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. See 50 U.S.C.App. § 2405(j)(4) (2000). 14 Shortly after the commencement of the most recent military action against Iraq in 2003, which resulted in the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime, the United States' policy toward Iraq changed to reconstructing Iraq's government and rebuilding the country's infrastructure. In furtherance of these new objectives, Congress took several steps to eliminate restrictions on the ability of the United States Government and private parties to provide assistance to or conduct business with Iraq. In April 2003, Congress enacted the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act (EWSAA or Act), which appropriated additional funding for military operations in Iraq, homeland security efforts in the United States, and bilateral economic assistance to America's allies in the war in Iraq. See Pub. L. No. 108-11, 117 Stat. 559 (2003). The bulk of the $78.5 billion appropriated in this Act was allocated to national defense activities. In addition, the Act appropriated nearly $2.5 billion for a new Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, to be used for the development of physical and government infrastructure and humanitarian activities in Iraq. See H.R. CONF. REP. No. 108-76, at 70-72 (2003). The Act provided that assistance to Iraq under the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund and other aid programs could be provided notwithstanding any other provision of law. See EWSAA § 1502, 117 Stat. 559, 578. 15 Of particular relevance to this appeal, § 1503 of the EWSAA authorized the President to suspend the application of any provision of the Iraq Sanctions Act of 1990. EWSAA § 1503, 117 Stat. 559, 579. Section 1503 [p]rovided further, [t]hat the President may make inapplicable with respect to Iraq section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or any other provision of law that applies to countries that have supported terrorism. Id. The suspension of these provisions would permit American assistance to Iraq to proceed without awaiting completion of the lengthy certification process required to rescind the Secretary of State's previous determination as to Iraq's status as a sponsor of terrorism. 16 On May 7, 2003, President Bush carried out the authority granted in § 1503 of the EWSAA by issuing Presidential Determination No. 2003-23, which ma[d]e inapplicable with respect to Iraq section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ... and any other provision of law that applies to countries that have supported terrorism. Presidential Determination No. 2003-23 of May 7, 2003, 68 Fed. Reg. 26,459 (May 16, 2003). In a message to Congress delivered on May 22, 2003, President Bush explained the need to protect Iraqi assets from attachment, judgment, or other judicial process, and stated his view that the May 7 Determination applied to, inter alia, the terrorism exception to the FSIA, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7). See Message to the Congress Reporting the Declaration of a National Emergency With Respect to the Development Fund for Iraq, 39 WEEKLY COMP. PRES. DOC. 647, 647-48 (May 22, 2003).