3 Years After He 'Ended the War': Obama Declares Iraq a 'National Emergency' for U.S.

(CNSNews)- President Barack Obama sent a message to Congress yesterday giving notice that he was extending the "national emergency" the United States has experienced as a result of the problems in Iraq since 2003, when the U.S. first invaded that country and removed the regime of Saddam Hussein.

President Obama pulled the last U.S. troops out of Iraq at the end of 2011. Then--while running for reelection in 2012--he repeatedly stated at campaign rallies that he had "ended" the war in Iraq.

"We've ended the war in Iraq," Obama said at a June 25, 2012, rally in New Hampshire for example.

"I've kept the commitments that I've made," he said in Iowa on Oct. 24, 2012. "I told you we'd end the war in Iraq. We did."

"You know I say what I mean and I mean what I say," Obama said at a rally in Florida on Nov. 4, 2012. "I said I would end the war in Iraq. I ended it."

The message he sent to Congress on Tuesday said that he was extending a "national emergency" becauase the situation in Iraq continues "to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

“Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date,” said Obama. “In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to the stabilization of Iraq that was declared in Executive Order 13303 of May 22, 2003, is to continue in effect beyond May 22, 2015.

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