Friend,
The American people want to end wars in the Middle East on favorable terms. We do not want and cannot afford a war of choice with Iran. I support requiring the President to obtain Congressional authorization prior to using military force against Iran. Until then, the United States should act only in legitimate self-defense.
Tragically, the Commander-in-Chief is deeply dishonest. The factual basis amid shifting stories for killing Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq is not believable. Reactions by members of Congress from both parties to the administration’s briefings were not reassuring. The Soleimani operation appears to have been a deliberate decision to escalate the President’s “maximum pressure” economic policy into a hot military war without the American people’s consent.
However history may regard the Soleimani operation, it is well past time for Congress to reclaim its Constitutional prerogative to declare war on another state.
I believe the Soleimani operation was a tactical success, but a strategic blunder. The operation removed a terrorist leader and may have prevented an attack, but hastened Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, undermined our fight against ISIS, rallied our enemies, and undercut our allies. The fact that we struck Soleimani near the Baghdad airport adds to evidence of a failing strategy in Iraq. The United States needs a new and realistic strategy in the Middle East, not false bravado that plays fast and loose with American lives and national security.
Rep. Matt Gaetz voted for the War Powers Resolution yesterday as I would. Yet, Gaetz also celebrated the Soleimani operation as part of the “Trump Doctrine” of strike and retreat. Gaetz fails to understand that tactics without strategy are folly. Ending the “forever wars” requires a strategy to achieve favorable conditions. If the Soleimani strike precipitates further American withdrawal in unfavorable conditions, expect more chaos from a nuclear arms race and more lethal terrorism.
Will you donate $100, $20.20, $10 or $5 to say "NO" to Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump and "YES" to Peace?
