Get MACED - The Last U.S. Troops Left Iraq. What They Took Home CHANGES Everything ｜ Nancy Mace

00:00:00.000 all right good evening to this edition of get maced i'm congresswoman nancy mace i do four

00:00:10.740 nights a week monday through thursday at 8 p.m if you haven't subscribed please subscribe now

00:00:16.240 tonight's episode is going to be a little bit different than i know i like to tell a few jokes

00:00:20.920 but this is no laughing matter so i'm gonna tell hardly any i might tell one tonight one little

00:00:26.680 quip. But I want to talk about a story this week that the mainstream media really hasn't covered.

00:00:32.880 And this is the withdrawal from Iraq. I think this is really important because the vast majority of

00:00:38.020 us are not for forever wars. And when we withdraw from a country, our military does, I think that we

00:00:46.600 should all know about it and know about it in detail. But the mainstream media doesn't want to

00:00:50.560 want to do stories on this because they don't want to give Trump a win, whether you like Trump or not.

00:00:56.000 withdrawing from a country in the Middle East is a win. It's nonpartisan. We've had presidents who

00:01:03.260 are Republican and presidents who are Democrat put withdrawal plans together. And this is a

00:01:08.640 success story for all of us, given what's going on with Iran right now. And all of us want that war 1.00

00:01:13.240 to end. So we're going to go into we're going to do a deep dive on that tonight.

00:01:26.000 Iraq's government is run by Iraqis out of Baghdad.

00:01:55.080 They have a prime minister. They have a government, which is different from Afghanistan.

00:01:59.700 I don't think of Afghanistan as a government run country because they've got the Taliban, a terrorist organization that we pay, by the way.

00:02:06.820 Other actors in this story are the Kurds. The Kurds are allies of the United States. 0.58

00:02:12.180 They have fought alongside American soldiers for decades.

00:02:15.380 They have a Kurdish leader, also a prime minister. And then you have Iran's militias.

00:02:19.860 There are two or three, three actually, militias that run around in Iraq that are funded by Iran.

00:02:27.500 And that's important to know. ISIS is still in Iraq, funded by Iran.

00:02:34.220 And so the go-between between Iran and the U.S. on the Iranian side is Oman.

00:02:39.940 The go-between between the U.S. and Iran on the U.S. side is Qatar.

00:02:44.720 So those are the main players tonight.

00:02:47.720 And this week, American troops left Iraq.

00:02:53.560 We had a few thousand there, about 2,000 years since 2017.

00:02:57.660 They left this week, and they will not be back.

00:03:06.060 The orderly departure of coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base

00:03:12.060 marks the successful conclusion of the military mission that defeated ISIS in Iraq.

00:03:16.720 It is a successful conclusion. It is different than the conclusion in Afghanistan. It's certainly different than Iran right now. But where did it all start? In August of 2014, you had the operation that was started by President Obama, Operation Inherent Resolve. It started in Iraq.

00:03:34.080 We started bombing and attacking ISIS forces under the Obama administration, and our first

00:03:41.480 strikes protected the Kurdish city of Erbil from ISIS.

00:03:46.220 That was 12 years later.

00:03:47.440 Erbil was the last base we left in Iraq, and this started under Obama, and of course, all

00:03:53.540 this conflict in the Middle East started under Bush, and we can have a whole long podcast

00:03:58.060 about whether or not that was the right call.

00:04:00.460 i i disagree with bush on going into the middle east but what also came home was our missile

00:04:08.760 defense system um that that did protect our kurdish allies and we'll get into that

00:04:15.460 and then this week iran got our answer to their plan to end the war and that was uh zero that was

00:04:23.760 a no so politicians love a deadline and actually for the first time in a long time the u.s government

00:04:29.700 met its deadline, and we got out of there. So I'm going to go through all of it tonight in plain

00:04:36.120 English for you. Okay, so how did we get here? Like I said, it started in 2014 with Operation

00:04:44.340 Inherent Resolve. However, obviously, 9-11 happened September 11, 2001. We sent forces

00:04:50.780 overseas to different countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, and invaded Iraq in 2003 is when we invaded at

00:04:59.380 the peak in 2007. We had more than 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. In 2011, we pulled out. ISIS took

00:05:08.600 some ground and got stronger. And so then in 2014, after ISIS took over huge parts of Iraq,

00:05:16.260 we went back in to beat them. And we won. Iraq has declared ISIS defeated in their country.

00:05:23.820 we kept a small force about 2 000 troops this year and it's dwindled down and now now we're

00:05:30.720 completely now we're out and by 2024 washington and baghdad agreed to wind down the presence of

00:05:39.660 around 2 500 troops from iraq by september 30th this year those troops are mostly located in the

00:05:46.200 semi-autonomous kurdish region of northern iraq it includes a removal of u.s air defense systems

00:05:52.320 So the Biden administration and Iraq agreed in 2024 to end the mission by 2026, and President Trump kept that date. Thank you, President Trump, for doing what you said you were going to do.

00:06:05.160 And then Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell put out a statement. He's a chief spokesperson for the Pentagon. He said that U.S. and coalition partners formally concluded Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq, consistent with September 2024, the U.S.-Iraq joint statement and U.S. national interest.

00:06:24.160 interests. And all of this started Operation Inherent Resolve started in 2014, when President

00:06:29.900 Obama first did strikes on ISIS fighters up in that region of the world. And Iraq was supposed 0.61

00:06:40.200 to disarm Iran's militias. It hasn't totally happened yet. They've set a deadline for 2027

00:06:44.420 to fully disarm ISIS, since a few of them still have their guns. And then this week, obviously,

00:06:52.640 there are going to be some people celebrating. Iran's going to celebrate a victory. ISIS is

00:06:57.420 going to celebrate a victory. That's what the terrorists do. They take a story that's bad for 0.96

00:07:01.320 them and turn it around and use propaganda on their people. So Iran's militias are celebrating 0.82

00:07:06.920 tonight. They attacked our troops over 600 times since February. Think about that. And now we're

00:07:15.660 leaving on our win, as we said we would, we're fulfilling our promise. And they want to take

00:07:23.600 that as a win. Of course they do. That's called propaganda. But obviously the U.S. won. And we

00:07:28.120 made good on our promise to exit out. It's very rare that the U.S. government will give you the

00:07:32.360 exit strategy and then fulfill that exit strategy and do it on time. It's every politician's favorite.

00:07:39.180 It's every politician's dream to do it on time and put it in a press release. 0.91

00:07:41.900 Let's talk about the Kurds for a little bit. The Kurds are our allies. American troops have been fighting alongside them for decades. The Kurds fought ISIS on the ground, side by side with American troops, and we left the rest of Iraq first. We stayed back in Erbil, which is their capital. That was our last base. That's where it was.

00:08:02.120 the Patriot missiles that shot down drones and rockets fired at them from the base, from Erbil.

00:08:08.140 The Kurdish government is concerned because they say that over 1,000 drones and missiles were fired at them since February.

00:08:15.360 Forces and a chance to expose the Taliban's weakness.

00:08:18.900 But with only five days left before U.S. forces pull out for good, the despair of...

00:08:24.720 There is some despair there, and that's what's going to happen anytime the United States leaves a region.

00:08:30.160 Prime Minister for the Kurds, Barzani, said this week, losing those defenses, our defense systems will definitely put them at risk.

00:08:38.900 But the U.S. just can't be, we just can't be the world's police.

00:08:43.480 We can't occupy every country all the time.

00:08:46.880 We've got to take care of America first. 0.93

00:08:49.160 We left Afghanistan in 2021. 1.00

00:08:51.180 That was a disaster.

00:08:52.060 We lost 13 American troops.

00:08:53.400 This is not that.

00:08:54.280 We left without any American troops harmed. 0.92

00:08:57.500 back in afghanistan the taliban took over in days we pay them by the way 80 million dollars a week 0.94

00:09:04.560 which i support congressman tim burchett's bill not to do that anymore we shouldn't be paying

00:09:10.460 terrorists we shouldn't be paying the taliban we don't know where that money is going we've got a

00:09:15.300 lot bigger problems on our hand sean and legend brought to our attention that at least 40 million

00:09:21.420 dollars per week per week 40 million dollars per week and taxpayer money is ending up in the hands

00:09:27.540 of the Taliban and then it's later being auctioned off but both times in the Iraqi withdrawal we're

00:09:34.600 saying to the Iraqi government they have an actual government it's now in your hands the same thing 0.78

00:09:38.760 we do with Afghanistan we tell the Taliban it's in your hands and we pay them which we shouldn't

00:09:46.180 be doing the lesson here is that the u.s government has kept its promise in iraq iraq hasn't kept 0.93

00:09:54.320 theirs they had to push back the date to disarm isis they've given themselves until 2027 to do

00:09:59.080 that i pray that they do that because i don't want us going back into iraq i do not want the united

00:10:04.020 states to be back to be back there now moving on to iran the iran war february 28th the u.s

00:10:13.480 along with our ally Israel began bombing Iran seven months ago. And

00:10:22.240 on February 28th, the U.S. alongside our ally Israel started bombing Iran. We can go into

00:10:30.080 the facts of why that happened. Probably better to do it in a skiff, to be honest with you. I think

00:10:36.240 what the administration was told, what other information was out there, I don't know that

00:10:41.020 the information was quite that accurate. But that war started seven months ago. Now, on February 28,

00:10:46.900 the U.S. started bombing Iran with our ally Israel, and that was seven months ago.

00:10:54.720 And the administration wants to call this a strike. These are strikes. This is a war. When

00:10:59.920 you strike over and over and over again, day in and day out, you are in a war. There's no other

00:11:05.500 way to define it. Pre-Iran War, we had over 130 vessels, mostly oil tankers, going through the

00:11:14.360 Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is primarily shut down today. Pre-Iran War, we had over 20

00:11:20.660 million barrels of oil a day coming through the Strait of Hormuz. So when you look at one-fifth

00:11:26.280 of the world's oil going through the Strait of Hormuz, when you ask yourself, why is my gas so

00:11:33.200 high. This obviously has had an effect on gas prices, and it's only going to get worse as long

00:11:39.180 as this war continues. Now, the Strait of Hormuz is a narrow sea lane that traverses overseas

00:11:48.000 adjacent to Iran, and the Oman is right across from Iran on the map, and we'll put the map up

00:11:55.040 there for you. It's a very narrow strait that Iran is trying to control. You should care because the

00:11:59.960 reason your gas is so high is because of the straighter or moose now our move is that our

00:12:04.080 navy is blocking iran's ports so they can't sell their oil now i will tell you while that's happening

00:12:09.840 oman has been trying allegedly to sell oil on the market that they have labeled as their own but is

00:12:14.960 iran so how that's happening i'm not sure and i don't like it you should know where the oil is

00:12:21.160 coming from iran's offer iran made an offer here's the president in day six

00:12:29.920 the strait will be open. And on day seven, the talks with the U.S. will be started for the final

00:12:37.840 deal on mutually agreed. And the president, of course, turned that down. Iran's offer was that

00:12:47.540 they reopen the sea lane, the Strait of Hormuz, in a week, and we lift our blockade and give them

00:12:53.580 back their frozen money. The U.S. has frozen about $24 billion in financial assets that Iran wants

00:12:59.320 back with no strings attached. That was an easy no by President Trump. They're not going to get

00:13:05.460 free money to go build a nuclear bomb. I don't think so. The president said no, that he disagreed.

00:13:12.180 And still, this week, we sent an answer back. So Iran uses Oman, and the US uses Qatar to

00:13:19.700 negotiate with the Iranians. There's a lot of go back and forth. And we took it to them this week,

00:13:26.800 we took a response to them this week after we declined their offer. The fight really is about

00:13:32.600 who goes first. And my whole thing is that you can't give Iran money or give them any sort of 0.88

00:13:41.180 grace until you have strings attached, until you have a system that insers on the ground at their 0.91

00:13:47.600 nuclear sites to ensure they aren't and do not have the resources that they need to build a

00:13:54.260 nuclear bomb that's number one so that's really having an inspector on the nuclear sites is first

00:14:02.160 and to get to that 24 billion that iran wants if if and when they ever do get it i think it should

00:14:06.780 only go to medical uh so are medical expenses and food nothing else which means it's going to have

00:14:13.140 to be administered by a third party i.e a third country or someone who can make sure it's not

00:14:18.840 going to fund terrorism, are not going to prop up the IRGC and terrorism. Iran is very good at that

00:14:26.480 and we don't want them to have those resources to be able to do that. Now, something I wanted to 1.00

00:14:36.380 explain is that we've had a couple votes on the Iran war. We have voted on multiple war powers

00:14:45.520 resolutions, but we haven't yet voted on an AUMF, or an Authorized Use of Military Force.

00:14:52.080 There are two votes in a war in Congress, and only Congress under Article 1 of the Constitution

00:14:56.520 gets to declare war. One is the War Powers Resolution, which basically says stop the war,

00:15:03.620 and then an AUMF, an Authorized Use of Military Force, which means go, start the war. There are

00:15:10.300 two uses. Congress has voted on the More Powers Resolution over and over again. We have yet to

00:15:16.380 vote on an AUMF. And to get into the specifics of the AUMF, Congress has the power to declare war

00:15:24.420 under Article I. The president's responsibilities, what the commander-in-chief can do, which is be in

00:15:30.960 charge of our military, that's under Article II. And Article I and Article II in the Constitution

00:15:35.080 have been fighting for hundreds of years since the Constitution was written. And so those two

00:15:41.140 powers have been fighting each other for a very long time. Congress actually hasn't officially

00:15:46.040 declared war since World War II. Since World War II, we've been using the AUMF to fight our battle,

00:15:52.800 starting with Vietnam. So for the Vietnam vets that are watching tonight, welcome home.

00:15:59.760 Why it exists? It exists because of Vietnam. Congress felt the president had dragged our 0.99

00:16:04.800 country into a war. They did not want to fight and never voted for it. The War Powers Resolution

00:16:13.180 in 1973 to bring our troops home in Vietnam was passed over President Nixon's veto. That's a big

00:16:23.920 deal. And it requires the president to tell Congress within 48 hours that he's sending

00:16:29.340 troops into hostilities. President Trump did that at the beginning of the Iran war. The troops have

00:16:36.320 to come out of the conflict within 60 days. They have an extra 30 days to withdraw, so a total of

00:16:42.400 90 days. And we have held presidents, historically, we've held their feet to the fire on that. Any

00:16:50.200 member can force a vote of a War Powers Resolution. We've had a couple of them. The last War Powers

00:16:55.000 resolution. Seven Republican members voted for it, including two from Iowa. I was one of them.

00:17:00.120 I want the war to end. OK, a few examples of a war of war powers resolutions that have passed. 0.56

00:17:05.280 In 2019, Congress passed one to end U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen. Trump vetoed it.

00:17:12.980 In 2020, Congress passed one on Iran after the Soleimani strike. Trump vetoed that, too.

00:17:18.800 And I love the Soleimani strike. I would have never voted for a war powers resolution. 0.83

00:17:23.260 Trump has had a history of going in very surgically, taking somebody out and coming right out.

00:17:28.620 Iran is different because we've been there now for seven months.

00:17:31.400 It is not a surgical, tactical thing. 0.87

00:17:33.800 It is a war.

00:17:34.860 Now, when it comes to AUMFs, AUMFs are laws that are passed by Congress by both chambers, meaning the House of Representatives and the Senate.

00:17:43.620 They are signed by the president and saying that he authorized to use force against an enemy.

00:17:48.860 So one means, yes, go fight AUMF.

00:17:53.800 One means stop fighting, and that would be the War Powers Resolution.

00:17:57.880 So the big uses of the AUMFs, 1964, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 0.62

00:18:03.940 There was a blank check that escalated during Vietnam.

00:18:08.120 1991, the Gulf War. 0.63

00:18:10.280 It was a vote to push Saddam out of Kuwait.

00:18:12.500 2001 after 9-11. Presidents have stretched it for more than the last AUMF from 9-11. Presidents

00:18:24.480 have stretched it beyond 20 years. That's how we stayed in the Middle East for so long. Only one

00:18:32.660 member of Congress back in 2001 after 9-11 voted against the authorized use of military force,

00:18:38.980 and that was Barbara Lee. She voted no. 2002, we did one for Iraq. The vote before the 2003 0.76

00:18:45.900 invasion into Iraq was the AUMF that put us there back in 2003. So how this applies to Iran right

00:18:55.820 now, no AUMF has been voted on. Congress hasn't authorized us to fight anyone in Iran. There have 0.87

00:19:03.780 been a number of War Powers votes. In June, the House and Senate both passed one. It was a type

00:19:09.240 of resolution the president doesn't want to sign. The White House ignored it. And it says the White

00:19:14.300 House said the War Powers resolution is unconstitutional. The Senate has voted 14 times

00:19:19.000 and the latest failed just recently, two weeks ago, 49 to 50. The 60-day clock ran out in April.

00:19:26.140 It's been well over 90 days.

00:19:27.580 It's been seven months.

00:19:30.280 And it's time to make your case, vote on AUMF, which they won't.

00:19:35.180 The reason this is insider information, but the reason they will not vote on an AUMF is

00:19:41.820 because it would fail and the president would have to withdraw his troops and withdraw from

00:19:47.920 the area and stop bombing immediately because authorizing a war in Iran would not pass, would

00:19:54.620 not pass overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives. So there are two votes that

00:20:00.800 matter in a war, one that says go to war, one that says stop the war. And that's what we're

00:20:06.080 talking about. I would even say that bring back Congress before the election, vote on the AUMF,

00:20:12.740 vote on a War Powers Resolution, send it to the president. Let's do this before the election.

00:20:16.620 You know, the American people have the right to know where your elected official stands on this 0.85

00:20:22.760 war. Let's do the AUMF. Since the war powers, the president is ignoring the war powers

00:20:28.660 resolution. Let's do an AUMF. Our troops beat ISIS and came home. We won the Iraq war. And 0.64

00:20:34.980 that's worth saying out loud. Today, Iran's militias want the credit and they're not going

00:20:40.620 to get it because they lost. They've been diminished. And soon in the next year, year and a

00:20:45.260 half, the Iraqi government is going to disarm the rest of ISIS. We have five weeks until the

00:20:51.780 election. We need to make very clear as Republicans that we do not want another forever war or we're

00:20:57.840 going to continue losing our livelihood and losing our elections for decades to come if this continues.

00:21:04.460 Gas is too high. Groceries keep going up. There is no end in sight. Rates keep going up. We need

00:21:10.180 to end the war with purpose and we need to end it now. I see you're not following me. Hit the

00:21:20.040 follow button now.

Get MACED - October 01, 2026

The Last U.S. Troops Left Iraq. What They Took Home CHANGES Everything ｜ Nancy Mace

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