Thursday, January 9, 2020

U.S. House to vote on limiting Trump's power to hit Iran militarily

U.S. House
The U.S. House will vote Thursday on a war powers resolution aimed at restricting President Donald Trump's ability to strike Iran militarily following a pair of missile strikes by Tehran against U.S.-held bases in Iraq.


Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote on the resolution, sponsored by freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, to end the president's ability to launch military actions without express congressional approval.

Pelosi announced the vote Wednesday after angry Democratic leaders emerged from a closed-door meeting with top administration officials that addressed the justifications used for last week's airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

Soleimani's death prompted Tehran to retaliate Wednesday with missile attacks on two military bases holding American troops in Iraq. Iranian media reported dozens of American troops were killed, but U.S. defense officials said no service members were even hurt by the strikes.
 (UPI)
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5 comments:

  1. Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh gave some details about Iran’s Wednesday missile strikes on a US airbase in Iraq and described the attack as just the beginning of “a major operation”.

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  2. “The missile strikes on one of the most important bases of the US in the form of an operation code-named ‘Martyr Soleimani’ were the start of a major operation that would continue throughout the region,” Brigadier General Hajizadeh said on Thursday.

    “We did not aim to kill (anybody)” the top commander said, adding, “We intended to hit the enemy’s military machine.”

    “We fired 13 missiles at the (US) bases in Iraq, although we had prepared several hundred missiles for launching,” he stated.

    “We did not seek to kill anyone in this operation,” he said, adding, “However, tens of people were killed and wounded.”

    “We could mount the operation in a way that 500 would be killed in the first step and, if they responded, in the second and third steps, their casualties would have reached 4,000 to 5,000,” Brigadier General Hajizadeh went on to say.

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  3. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the US that it will be given a “very dangerous response” if it makes another mistake, a day after the Islamic Republic launched retaliatory missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq.

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  4. Citing the War Powers Resolution of 1973 which forbids a president from taking the country to war without congressional approval, the measure "directs the president to terminate the use of United States armed forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military."

    But the text, introduced by congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA officer with extensive experience in Iraq, also provides for key exceptions, allowing use of force to defend against or prevent an "imminent" attack against the United States or Americans.

    The measure has been introduced in the House as a concurrent resolution, a form of legislation that does not carry the weight of law. But as a political instrument it could serve as a stinging rebuke to Trump's foreign policy strategy.

    Trump said Thursday ahead of the vote that he was counting on his Republican Party to present a united front against the measure.

    "Hope that all House Republicans will vote against Crazy Nancy Pelosi's War Powers Resolution," the president tweeted.

    Pelosi, the speaker of the House, said her Democrats would move forward because their concerns were not addressed in a closed-door briefing to lawmakers Wednesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top officials.

    "The president has made clear that he does not have a coherent strategy to keep the American people safe, achieve de-escalation with Iran and ensure stability in the region," Pelosi said.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve a resolution Thursday directing President Donald Trump to not use the military to engage in hostilities with Iran.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the vote in a statement that criticized the Trump administration for conducting the airstrike last week that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani without consulting Congress.

    She called the airstrike a “provocative and disproportionate” action that endangered U.S. troops and diplomats.

    ReplyDelete

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