Just read the bill itself. It says that the President can’t use military force unless he first sends a letter to Congress declaring that non-military measures have failed, and that nothing short of war can protect the US from Iraq.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ243/html/PLAW-107publ243.htm
The October 2002 bill did exactly what the anti-war contingent hoped it would do – it scared Saddam enough that he backed down, and allowed UN inspectors back into Iraq. They spent over four months looking at all the sites the CIA had identified as possible WMD sites or factories, along with any other suspicious sites, including the Presidential Palaces. They used helicopters to swoop in on sites without warning, and they used equipment like ground-penetrating radar to ensure there were no hidden rooms or basements.
They found that not only were there no WMDs (other than a few rusty mustard gas shells left over from the 80’s) at any of the sites, but that some of them had clearly been abandoned for years, and that others were totally unsuitable for the purpose —an alleged chemical weapons factory didn’t even have indoor plumbing.
On March 7, 2003, Hans Blix informed the UN Security council that despite some initial foot-dragging, Iraq was now “proactive” in its cooperation, including allowing the destruction of some conventional missiles that flew 110 miles instead of the allowed 93 miles (Iraq is about 6000 miles from the US), that it would just take a few more months to resolve the remaining discrepancies (mostly a lack of documentation when weapons were destroyed), and that the continuing presence of inspectors would make it impossible for Saddam to resume any WMD programs without plenty of warning to the West. In other words, the non-military measures had completely succeeded.
http://www.un.org/depts/unmovic/new/pages/security_council_briefings.asp#7
For reasons I don’t understand, almost nobody acknowledges this four+ month period, when it became KNOWN FOR A FACT that the CIA, whatever its good intentions, had been completely wrong in its conclusions from satellite photos, and informants like “Curveball.” I don’t blame anybody for assuming the worst before the UN inspectors went in, but the Bush Administration continued to insist that Iraq had WMDs months after it became clear that the CIA was wrong, and even today, they keep saying that they acted on their best knowledge at the time, which is absolutely false — the best knowledge after the inspectors went in was that there was no sign of WMD stockpiles, programs, or facilities anywhere in Iraq.
On March 18, 2003, in spite of Hans Blix’s report that the inspections were going great, Bush (as required by the Oct 2002 bill) signed a letter to Congress saying that non-military measures had failed, and nothing short of war could protect the US from Iraq. Bush invaded Iraq the next day. No matter what you think of his artfully crafted speeches about Saddam’s WMDs and connections to Al Qaeda that were clearly designed to mislead but technically fell just short of lying, there is no doubt that he lied, in writing and over his signature, in that letter to Congress.
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html
