“The American people do not want another endless war in the Middle East,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) is warning President Donald Trump that acting on his threats to take up arms with Israel in its war with Iran would be an unconstitutional circumventing of Congress to start a war that the American public overwhelmingly doesn’t want.
Shortly after Israel launched unprompted strikes on numerous sites in Tehran on Friday, President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News that “the U.S. will defend itself and Israel if Iran retaliates.” He has since made numerous threats to Iran, insisting that they capitulate with his administration’s demands for a nuclear deal “before there is nothing left” of the country.
These and other statements by the president suggest that Trump would dispatch the U.S. military to fight alongside Israel whenever he wants, Tlaib pointed out — the same way that Trump conducted weeks of unauthorized strikes on Yemen earlier this year, causing hundreds of casualties, progressive lawmakers have previously said.
“The president cannot circumvent congressional war powers and unilaterally send U.S. troops to war with Iran,” said Tlaib in a post on social media on Friday.
“This is a violation of Article I of the Constitution which requires congressional approval to declare war. The American people do not want another endless war in the Middle East that will cost lives and tear their families apart,” she went on.
