In the wake of the recent drone strike that Donald Trump authorized, which killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to express her belief that the president committed an “act of war,” echoing other critics , like Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
“Last night the President engaged in what is widely being recognized as an act of war against Iran, one that now risks the lives of millions of innocent people,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted before outlining how people can prevent such war publicly and congressionally.
According to Ocasio-Cortez, Congress has two “immediate options” — vote on a War Powers Resolution to require Trump to gain authorization from Congress, and reintroduce and vote on the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment that was again put forth by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and California Rep. Ro Khanna.
The New York City congresswoman also expressed her belief that Trump’s decision has drawn the line between those that are “pro-peace or not.”
“The cheerleaders of war, removed from its true cost, will gladly convince you that up is down – just as they did in Iraq in ’03. But war does not establish peace. War does not create security. War endangers us all.”
Ocasio-Cortez claims that war advocates will suggest that war is the only realistic option and attempt to paint a pro-peace agenda as unrealistic and naive to the realities of modern politics. She urged her followers to not give in to such “gaslighting” and claims that the people pushing the latest attack are the same people that sold the Iraq War.
“We cannot repeat this cycle,” she tweeted.
Whether Trump’s attack was justified due to Soleimani’s alleged plans to attack the United States continues to be a matter of debate. Progressive commentator Kyle Kulinski has been open about his belief that such purported plans are untrue and believes that the attack was a clear-cut assassination.
“Wait, we’re debating whether or not assassinating a leading general of a foreign country is an act of war?” he tweeted in response to an article on Ocasio-Cortez’s recent comment.
Outside of the progressive wing of the Democratic party, conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson also leveled criticism against Trump’s decision and the Iran hawks in Washington who have thrown their support behind the move. According to Carlson, the Washington neoconservatives in support of attacking Iran are not giving proper consideration to the downsides of such a maneuver and are ignoring the decline of the country in favor of warmongering.
