Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., urged members of Congress late Thursday to support her in her bid to stop President Donald Trump from initiating a new way as a “distraction” in Iran following the U.S. airstrike that killed the notorious Gen. Qassim Soleimani, Fox News informed.
“So what if Trump wants war, knows this leads to war and needs the distraction?” the Democrat freshman “Squad” member said. “Real question is, will those with congressional authority step in and stop him? I know I will.”
The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the President had given the orders for the attack in which Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force was killed. Iran’s top “shadow commander” was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more, the State Department said.
Omar was responding to a tweet from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who questioned whether Trump acted within his right as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to authorize the attack. The U.S. Constitution divides war powers between the Executive and Legislative branches. Congress can declare war and raise support for the armed forces.
“Soleimani was an enemy of the United States. That’s not a question,” Murphy affirmed. “The question is this – as reports suggest, did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?”
Murphy, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said that while the justification for the attack is to “deter future Iranian attacks,” the U.S. usually doesn’t assassinate foreign officials because it could potentially cause more Americans to be killed.
“That should be our real, pressing and grave worry tonight,” he said.
He added that while no one knows what will happen next, “the neocons thumping their chest tonight should recall that the worst mistakes global powers make are when they strike militarily in complicated places with few friends, with no consideration of the consequences.”
Many Democrats admitted that no Americans would mourn Soleimani’s death but also raised concern that the escalation will put the U.S. on a crash course for a new conflict in the Mideast. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying that Trump ordered the airstrike “without the consultation of Congress.”
The State Department said the airstrike “was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”
“The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world,” the agency said.
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