On Iran

From the Alabama Democratic Party

American service members are risking their lives in a war that Congress never authorized.

 As of today, we've lost brave men and women in uniform in Iran. Civilians across the region are being killed in airstrikes. And it's all happening because Donald Trump decided, unilaterally, to launch a war without asking Congress for authorization.

 Let's be absolutely clear about something: Ayatollah Khamenei was a ruthless tyrant. His regime terrorized its own people, funded terrorist organizations across the Middle East, and brutalized anyone who dared to dissent. Nobody is mourning his leadership or defending the horrors of the Iranian government.

 But that doesn't excuse what's happening right now.

 The Constitution is crystal clear: Congress — and only Congress — has the power to declare war. The Founders wrote it that way for a reason. They'd just fought a revolution against a king who could send men to die on a whim. They didn't want an American president with that same unchecked power.

 And yet here we are. American troops in harm's way without so much as a debate in Congress, much less a vote. 

 This is about the basic constitutional principle that the decision to send Americans to war — to ask our sons and daughters to risk their lives — is too important to be made by one person.

 We've been down this road before. Iraq. Afghanistan. Vietnam. Wars that started with promises of quick victories and ended with coffins coming home for years. Wars that cost trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives. Wars that destabilized entire regions and created problems we're still dealing with decades later.

 And every single time, we said: Never again. Never again will we rush into war. Never again will we bypass the constitutional process. Never again will we send our troops into combat without making absolutely sure it's necessary and right.

 And yet here we are.

 Our service members are brave. They're following orders. They're doing their duty. And they deserve a Commander-in-Chief who respects them enough to follow the Constitution before sending them into war.

 This didn't have to happen this way. There's a process. There's a reason for that process. And Donald Trump ignored it because he could.

 That's not how this is supposed to work. And it's not right.

 Alabama Democrats