Nancy Pelosi Promises That House Will Introduce ‘War Powers Resolution’ To Limit Trump In Iran
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has sent a letter to her Democratic colleagues advising them that the legislative body will soon be voting on a resolution intended to limit President Trump’s operations with regard to Iran, CNN reports.
The House resolution will be similar in scope and intent to a resolution introduced into the Senate by Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine.
Both resolutions come in the wake of Trump having ordered a targeted airstrike that killed Iranian top general Qassem Soleimani, a surprising move that came without congressional authorization, and which has inched the U.S. and Iran closer to all-out war.
“Last week, the Trump Administration conducted a provocative and disproportionate military airstrike targeting high-level Iranian military officials. This action endangered our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran,” Pelosi writes.
Like the Senate resolution, the House resolution would seek to limit any further action in Iran to only what Congress authorizes. What’s more, the House resolution would specifically put a time limit on Trump’s actions in Iran: barring further authorization from Congress, Trump’s “military hostilities with regard to Iran” will have to end within 30 days.
Trump, for his part, does not appear to have shown any willingness to dial back his military hostilities with Iran. Indeed, on Sunday, Trump threatened to target Iranian cultural sites. As The Washington Examiner reports, Trump specifically claimed that the military has set its sights on 52 cultural targets, one each for the 52 Americans taken hostage curing the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979-1981.
The Examiner points out that such an action would be contrary to established military protocol, in that the military generally tries to avoid carrying out operations of little military significance, and particularly, where civilians are likely to be killed or injured in the operation.
Iran, meanwhile, has threatened retaliation for the Soleimani killing, and indeed, it seems as if at least one act of retaliation has already taken place. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a group of hackers, claiming to be Iranian, hacked a U.S. government website and defaced it with a pro-Iranian message and an image of Donald Trump with a fist punching his bloodied face.
Apparent hacking by an #Iran-linked group of a US government website (the little-known Federal Depository Library Program). https://t.co/r47ODmt4Pw is currently offline. pic.twitter.com/8dx7EDUZvu
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 5, 2020
Pelosi, in calling for Congress to have the power to restrain Trump and his military interventions in Iran, says that failing to do so could risk American lives.
“I greatly appreciate the solemnity with which all of our Members are working to honor our responsibility to protect American lives and values,” Pelosi wrote.
