[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 2 (Monday, January 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17-S20]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Iran
Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I am glad to be joined today by my
colleague from Illinois, who is a personal mentor of mine. We are here
to talk about the threat of war with Iran and about the Constitution.
I have been worried about this threat for some time, ever since
President Trump chose to ignore the advice of his key national security
professionals and allies by abandoning America's commitment to a
diplomatic deal to limit Iran's nuclear program. The President's action
since that tragic decision and the easily predictable responses of Iran
to his actions have resulted in an escalating set of hostilities
between the United States and Iran and its proxies.
I will state at the outset my conclusion. I believe that the United
States should not be at war in Iran and that, indeed, another war in
the Middle East now would be catastrophic.
But I recognize that some of my colleagues may have a different point
of view. So I speak in the hopes of forging a consensus on at least one
issue, and that issue is this: If there is to be a war with Iran, it
should not be initiated by this President or any President acting on
his or her own. It should only be initiated by a vote of Congress
following an open and public debate in full view of the American
people.
Every Member of Congress should vote and then be accountable for the
question of whether another war in the Middle East is a good idea. The
demand for congressional accountability is constitutionally required in
the unique constitutional framework that we have. We pledge to support
and defend the principle that it is up to Congress to declare war, not
the President.
If we engage in a war, the odds are high that young American men and
women will be killed or injured. Some will see their friends killed and
injured. Some will have the remainder of their lives affected by
physical and emotional injuries, post-traumatic stress, the pain of
losing friends, and their families and friends will bear those scars as
well. If we are to order our troops and their families to run that
risk, then, it should be based on a public consensus as reflected in an
open congressional debate and vote that war is in the national
interest.
If Congress debates the matter in full view of the public and reaches
the conclusion that war is necessary, so be it. Even if I were to vote
no, if the majority of my colleagues voted yes, I would agree that the
decision to go to war was a legitimate basis to order our best and
brightest into harm's way.
But by what right do we consign our troops to possible injury and
death if
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we are unwilling to have a debate and cast a vote ourselves? We cannot
hide under our desks, outsource our constitutional duty to any
President, and pretend that we can avoid accountability for war and its
consequences.
Over the course of this week, I will address three topics about the
issue of war with Iran. The first subject which I will address today is
this: How did we get here? How did we come to the place where the
United States and Iran are trading violent attacks against one another
and what does that mean for our country, the region, and the world?
In the coming days, I will address two additional topics. I will
discuss how Congress should reclaim its constitutional war-making
powers by acting on a privileged resolution that Senator Durbin and I
have filed on January 3 to remove U.S. troops from hostilities with
Iran unless Congress passes a new declaration or legal authorization
initiating such a war. The resolution, which is also being offered on
the House side by Representative Slotkin, will give all 535 Members of
Congress the opportunity to declare where they are on the advisability
of a war with Iran, and it also gives them an opportunity to affirm
their commitment to their oath of office.
Finally, later in the week, I will address the larger question of how
the United States should deescalate tensions in the Middle East so that
we might better protect American lives and promote peace and stability
in a very turbulent part of the world.
How did we get here?
The United States and Iran have a very troubled history. When Iran's
democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossaddegh, supported
efforts to nationalize private energy resources, the United States and
Britain orchestrated a coup that led to his ouster in 1953.
The overthrow of Iran's democratic government, partially with U.S.
support, led to the strengthened rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
who ruled Iran as an Emperor until he was overthrown in the Iranian
revolution of 1979. His dictatorial rule, with strong support from the
United States, increasingly alienated the Iranian population. When he
fled the country during the revolution, Iran abolished the monarchy and
declared itself an Islamic republic.
Within a few months after the revolution, Iranian protestors took
over the American Embassy in Iran. For those of us who saw the protests
outside the American Embassy in Baghdad last week, the images of the
Iranian Embassy hostage taking in Iran in 1979 were at the front of our
minds. The protesters cited America's role in the 1953 coups, and they
asked the United States to return the Shah, who had come to the United
States seeking medical attention, to Iran for trial. The United States
refused. Iran held 52 Americans hostage for more than 440 days until
they were finally released in the first days of the Reagan
administration.
After this attack--this inexcusable attack on the American Embassy--
U.S. and Iran diplomatic relations were severed. The United States has
imposed significant economic sanctions against Iran for decades. The
United States provided support for Iraq in its 8-year war against
Iran--a war in which hundreds of thousands of Iranians were killed.
In 1988, the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian
commercial airliner, killing 290 passengers and its crew.
Iran has engaged in hostilities against the United States and our
allies in many settings--through targeted attacks and assassinations
around the world, covert and overt support for terrorist organizations,
and development of weapons systems in violation of U.N. security
resolutions. Iran has been directly responsible for the deaths of
thousands of Americans and indirectly responsible for many, many more.
These activities over many decades have led America for years to view
Iran as a key promoter of terrorism and one of the most concerning
nation-state adversaries of the United States.
In recent years, a particular focus has been Iran's nuclear program.
Despite Iran's claim that it sought nuclear power purely for peaceful
purposes, legitimate suspicion of its intent led to a global campaign
led by the United States to sanction Iran even more as a means of
getting the country to abandon its quest for nuclear weapons.
After years of negotiations between six nations--France, Britain, the
United States, Germany, Russia, China--and Iran, an agreement was
reached in 2015 whereby Iran would pledge never to seek, acquire, or
develop nuclear weapons in exchange for gradual relaxation of sanctions
against Iran. The agreement, known as the JCPOA, contained strict
limits on Iran's nuclear program that would gradually relax over 25
years. Iran's pledge to never acquire or develop nuclear weapons was
permanent, as was its commitment to abide by the inspection protocols
of the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure compliance with
that fundamental pledge. The JCPOA was not perfect, but it carefully
preserved the ability of the United States and other nations to
continue sanctions against Iran for its other activities and offered an
opportunity for the first time in four decades for the United States
and Iran to communicate through an established diplomatic process.
As the Trump administration took office, the President pledged to
undo this diplomatic deal, the JCPOA. The nations that agreed to the
deal pointed out that Iran was complying with the deal, as did the
IAEA, and the key officials of President Trump's national security
team--Defense Secretary Mattis, Secretary of State Tillerson, National
Security Advisor McMaster, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Dunford--all argued that the agreement was working and should
be maintained.
But President Trump made the decision that the United States should
abandon the diplomatic deal. The U.S. abandonment of a working
diplomatic deal was historic. No U.S. President had ever walked away
from a diplomatic commitment of this kind.
Many of us, at the time, warned the President that abandoning
diplomacy, against the advice of allies and our national security
professionals, would likely lead us to an unnecessary war. It was just
a matter of time. Indeed, since the beginning of the Trump
administration, there have been increasing back-and-forth provocations
that have now led us to a state of active hostilities between the
United States and Iran.
Unclassified examples of U.S. activity under the Trump administration
that have escalated hostilities with Iran include the following:
On December 12, 2017, the United States and Israel reached a joint
strategic work plan to counter Iranian activity in the Middle East that
included preparation for military escalation scenarios against Iran.
On May 8, 2018, President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA
after promising to do so for months.
On May 21, 2018, Secretary of State Pompeo, who had earlier expressed
a preference for bombing Iran rather than entering into the JCPOA,
vowed to ``crush'' Iranian operatives and proxies.
On July 23, 2018, President Trump tweeted a threat to President
Rouhani, warning that Iran would ``SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF
WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.''
On August 6, 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally imposed
economic sanctions lifted as part of the JCPOA, despite Iran's
continued compliance with the deal.
In September of 2018, it was reported that new National Security
Advisor John Bolton had asked the Department of Defense to prepare war
plans against Iran. Later the same month, Bolton warned Iran that there
would be ``hell to pay'' if the nation ever crossed the United States.
On October 3, 2018, the Trump administration terminated the 1955
Treaty of Amity affirming friendly relations between the United States
and Iran. The United States terminated it. The treaty itself had long
ago been made irrelevant by the actual hostilities between the nations,
but the action of the United States in finding the treaty and publicly
terminating it unilaterally was seen as a part of a pattern of hostile
intent.
As early as the fall of 2018, Department of Defense officials began
to express concern that the U.S. maximum security pressure campaign
against
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Iran was raising the risk of Iranian retaliation against American
troops in Iraq and Syria. In an October 26 article in the Wall Street
Journal, DOD officials were quoted as expressing concern that Iran's
belief that the United States was helping Israel with airstrikes would
jeopardize American lives in the region.
On November 5, 2018, President Trump imposed additional sanctions on
Iranian oil, shipping, and banking sectors.
On February 3, 2019, President Trump stated on ``Face the Nation''
that troops being withdrawn from Syria would be moved to Iraq to serve
as a check against Iran.
On February 11, 2019, Advisor Bolton released a video addressed to
the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, stating that Iran's
leaders would not ``have many more anniversaries to enjoy.''
On February 13, 2019, the Trump administration convened a meeting in
Poland that was publicly described by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on his official website as designed to ``advance the common
interest of war'' against Iran.
In March 2019, press accounts revealed that the Department of Energy
had approved seven transfers of nuclear technical information from U.S.
companies to Saudi Arabia without informing Congress. The transfers
were made despite U.S. awareness that the Government of Saudi Arabia
had publicly threatened to develop nuclear weapons to counter Iran.
On April 8, 2019, the United States designated the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization, the first time
that had ever been used to apply to a foreign governmental entity.
On May 5, 2019, Advisor Bolton announced deployment of the Lincoln
Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central
Command for the expressed purpose of countering Iran.
On May 8, 2019, the Trump administration ordered new sanctions
against Iran's metal industry.
On May 10, 2019, the New York Times reported on war plans developed
by the administration that could deploy up to 120,000 additional U.S.
troops to the Middle East to counter Iran. On the same day, the
administration deployed Patriot missiles to U.S. Central Command to
counter Iran.
On May 24, 2019, the Trump administration bypassed Congress,
declaring an emergency citing ``Iranian malign activity'' in order to
sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
In June of 2019, President Trump ordered 3,500 more troops of the
U.S. military to the Middle East to check Iran.
On June 20, 2019, the United States initiated a strike against
Iranian positions that was aborted at the last minute by President
Trump.
On June 24, 2019, President Trump imposed additional sanctions
against Iran.
On September 15, 2019, after drone attacks on two key oil
installations in Saudi Arabia, President Trump tweeted that the United
States was ``locked and loaded depending on verification from the
Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of the attack.''
On November 19, 2019, President Trump notified Congress that
``consistent with the War Powers Resolution,'' he was deploying
additional U.S. weapons and troops to Saudi Arabia to counter Iran.
On December 29, 2019, following a rocket attack from an Iranian-
backed militia in Iraq that killed an American contractor and wounded
several others, the U.S. military struck Iranian-backed militia groups
in Iraq and Syria, killing dozens.
On January 2, 2019, President Trump ordered a drone strike killing
Qasem Soleimani, a key Iranian military commander as well as a key
Iraqi military leader. The December and January strikes in Iraq were
carried out despite the objections of the Iraqi Government and without
any prior notification to Congress. Two days after the Soleimani
strike, the President notified Congress of the action, which had been
in the newspaper, obviously, ``consistent with the War Powers
Resolution.''
Now, during the same time, Iran has conducted escalatory activities
as well. Their bellicose behavior includes continued arming and
financial backing of Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist
organization which carried out the bombing of the marine barracks in
Beirut as well as efforts to target Israeli citizens and troops;
support for the Houthis, including the supplying of ballistic missiles,
thus escalating the civil war in Yemen; direct participation of troops
and commanders in support of Bashar al-Assad's murderous campaign
against the Syrian people; support for the Popular Mobilization
Committee-affiliated Shia militias in Iraq, which pose a direct threat
to U.S. personnel; unjust detention of U.S. citizens; cyber attacks on
U.S. officials, agencies, and companies; the downing of a U.S. unmanned
aerial vehicle in June of 2019; UAV strikes against Saudi oil
facilities in September 2019; persistent interference with commercial
shipping in the Strait of Hormuz; militia attacks on the Iraqi base in
December that killed an American contractor; and stoking popular unrest
against the United States in Iraq that encouraged the assault on the
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad last week.
I have given you these examples for a reason. You can see the reason.
There has been an escalation that began with the U.S. decision to
destroy a diplomatic deal, and it has been one nation acting and the
other responding, and the other acting and the other responding, and
now we are on the brink of war. The escalation has been so significant
between the United States and Iran that now each country has been
responsible for actively inflicting injuries and deaths on the other,
and we are at the brink of war.
Thousands of American servicemembers enjoying the holidays with their
families were surprised by notices in the last few days that they must
now deploy to the Middle East yet again. The current state of
hostilities is causing other serious consequences.
The U.S. abandonment of the diplomatic deal, together with other
actions, has seriously jeopardized our relations with many allies,
particularly our European allies. The U.S. abandonment of a diplomatic
deal over a nuclear program has made it much harder to find a
diplomatic deal with North Korea. The U.S. decision to carry out
strikes on Iraqi soil over Iraqi objections has badly damaged U.S.-Iraq
relations. Just yesterday, the Iraqi Parliament voted to ask all U.S.
troops to leave Iraq. If that occurs, it will further destabilize a
country that has been wracked with protests in recent months, and it
will embolden both ISIS and Iran.
U.S. actions have had the unlikely effect of driving three of our
principled nation-state adversaries into historically unprecedented
levels of cooperation. Just recently, Iran, China, and Russia conducted
joint naval operations in the Gulf of Oman.
Notably, the U.S. actions that I have described here have been
carried out mostly by President Trump without congressional approval
and often without any notice or any consultation with Congress. Members
of Congress on the relevant committees have had to read about these
actions in the newspapers rather than being informed by the Trump
administration.
At this particular moment, with the specter of war so present, it is
time for Congress to assert itself. We cannot let a President destroy
American diplomacy on its own. We cannot let a President take our
Nation, take our troops, and take our best and brightest into an
unnecessary war on his own. Indeed, we cannot leave the lives of our
troops up to the whim of this President or of any President.
That is why Senator Durbin and I have introduced, pursuant to the
same War Powers Act referenced by the President, a resolution that will
force the removal of U.S. troops from hostilities with Iran unless
Congress independently votes that we should be at war. Congress has the
responsibility, and Congress must act to shoulder its responsibility.
I will offer more comments on the resolution later this week, but I
appreciate the support of my colleague, who, as I said, in many ways,
is my mentor in the Senate, the Senator from Illinois.
I yield the floor to him.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority whip.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Virginia for
his clarion call for the U.S. Senate to assert its constitutional
responsibility
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when it comes to the prospect of a war with Iran.
He has referenced, many times, the War Powers Act. The War Powers
Act, students of history will remember, was passed by the U.S. Congress
after the end of the Vietnam war so Congress would assert, with
specificity, its authority when it came to the execution of a war. The
President at the time, Richard Nixon, opposed the War Powers Act and
vetoed it, and because of what the United States had endured during the
course of the Vietnam war, Congress overrode the veto of President
Nixon to make it clear, with the War Powers Act, that we would never
ever, by design, find ourselves in the same moral predicament we did
with the war in Vietnam.
Almost 50,000 American lives were lost in that war in Vietnam, a war
which was not a declared war under the Constitution but one which still
exacted a heavy, incalculable price on American families--families I
know and everyone knows, whose lives were touched by that Vietnam war,
whose sons and daughters may have served or may have given their lives
in service. The decision was made in Congress never again. We are not
going to let this happen again. We are not going to find ourselves
backsliding into a war.
The American people, through their elected men and women representing
them in Congress, will make the decision as to whether it is time for
us to go to war and will make the decision as to whether our men and
women in uniform are going to risk their lives at war. The decision
will be made by the American people through their elected
representatives in Congress. It was not a novel idea. We find it in
this little Constitution, which we are all handed when we take the oath
of office.
As Senator Kaine from Virginia has noted, article I, section 8, in
just a few words, says: The Congress shall have the power to declare
war. It is not equivocal. There are no footnotes, asterisks, or
question marks. The Congress shall have the authority to declare war.
Now, at this moment in time, with the assassination of General
Soleimani and the escalation of the conflict between the United States
and Iran, Senator Kaine and I come to the floor and ask this Congress,
Republicans and Democrats alike: Do these words count? Do we have a
constitutional responsibility to stand up and speak up and to challenge
this President or any President of either political party when they
start moving us toward a moment of war which could easily claim the
lives of many Americans?
That is the purpose of our resolution. It is simple and
straightforward, but it really goes to a fundamental question. The men
and women who serve this country in uniform--God bless them for their
sacrifice and their courage. We know that when they take the oath to
serve, they are prepared to risk their lives in service. Many of us
have attended the funerals of servicemembers who gave their lives in
Iraq and Afghanistan and so many other places. It is a heartbreaking
experience to see that emotional family leaving a church or a synagogue
after a service honoring someone in uniform who has given their life
for this country. That is so fundamental.
Senator Kaine and I have come to the floor today to say we are
finding ourselves now moving, day by day, closer and closer to a
confrontation with Iran that could result in a war. What Senator Kaine
has catalogued and gone through is this long buildup under the Trump
administration that brings us to this moment.
To think President Trump inherited from President Obama an
international agreement that included the signatories of not only our
traditional European allies but also China and Russia to stop Iran from
developing a nuclear weapon; to think that that agreement was being
monitored by international overseers who reported back to us that they
had ready access throughout the nation of Iran when it came to making
certain that the JCPOA agreement was lived up to; to think that that at
least gave us the assurance that Iran would not develop a nuclear
weapon--and then this President, with a series of tweets and actions,
swept it away and said we are going to ignore this treaty, we are going
to walk away from it, and we are going to confront the Iranians in a
variety of ways, as Senator Kaine has spelled out.
So we come to the floor this afternoon to really appeal to our
colleagues on both sides of the aisle. On behalf of the American
people, let us learn the lessons of history--a lesson bitterly learned
during the Vietnam war--that if Congress does nothing, a war can
develop and continue at great human cost.
I know the moments of great decision that are made in the U.S.
Congress, and I have been fortunate to be part of some of them. I
remember October 16, 2002, as if it were yesterday. I remember that
well, at that place that I point to, where in the early morning hours,
three of us--three Senators stood and spoke to one another as we left
to go home. There had just been a vote for an authorization for use of
military force in Iraq. The three of us had gathered in the well,
including Senator Paul Wellstone from Minnesota and Senator Kent Conrad
from North Dakota, and we looked at one another, having all three voted
against the invasion of Iraq, and realized we were headed home to face
the electorate on that decision. It was an emotional moment.
I remember saying to Senator Wellstone, who had voted against the
invasion of Iraq, as I had: Paul, I hope this doesn't cost you the
election. He said: Dick, if it does, it is all right because that is
what I was elected to do, to come here and to vote on issues. Is it
possible there is any issue more important than the issue of asking
American families to give their children in service of this country in
a war?
Senator Wellstone passed away a few days later in an airplane crash.
It was my last conversation with him, but I remember that moment, and I
remember the responsibility we had. What Senator Kaine and I are doing
now is to appeal to our colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Do not
walk away from our responsibility when it comes to the future decision
of whether we go to war with Iran. Stand up for those American families
who sent us here to do our constitutional duty and engage in the debate
as to whether it is the right thing at the right moment of history or
whether it is an impulsive decision by a President who broke away from
a political campaign meeting to authorize the assassination of General
Soleimani and then returned to the campaign meeting. Make the decision
as to whether this is the right moment in history. Don't point to the
President that it is his responsibility; it is our responsibility. That
is what this Constitution says.
(Mr. BOOZMAN assumed the Chair.)
Now, with that responsibility, we need to stand up and act. I am
honored to join Senator Kaine. We have filed our resolution. We are
seeking a ruling by the Parliamentarian, and we want to move forward on
a schedule for a debate on the floor of the Senate. It may be the
single most important debate we face this year for many years to come.
I yield the floor.
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