[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 7, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S35]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  Iran

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this morning, the Republican majority 
leader took to the floor and spoke at great length about the execution 
of General Soleimani. General Soleimani, who was the head of the 
military forces in Iran, was killed by a drone strike at the 
authorization of the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
  Senator McConnell, this morning, made a lengthy case about the 
background of General Soleimani. It is hard to argue with the facts he 
brought to the floor. In fact, I would concede and most would agree 
that General Soleimani, in his time, was an architect of terrorism and 
that, in the course of his career, there has been American blood on his 
hands. That is fact, but it wasn't a fact just discovered in the last 
few weeks. The Presidents of both political parties have known this 
about General Soleimani for a long period of time. They have had 
opportunities to end his life, yet they didn't seize those 
opportunities. Presidents of both parties decided it was prudent not to 
do it.
  The question that has been raised now is why this President, at this 
moment, made the decision to execute the general. We know this general 
and his past activity have had an impact not only on the United States 
but on the Middle East and many other innocent people. The question 
that has been raised is, Why at this moment? Why did it make sense at 
this moment?
  But for a few Members of the Senate, most of us have not had 
extensive briefings or an opportunity to ask questions of this 
administration about the timing of this critical decision. We will get 
our chance tomorrow. There is a classified briefing in which 
representatives at the highest level of this administration will come 
before us and explain why they believe the President's decision at that 
moment was the right thing to do for America. So many of those who come 
to the floor and defend the decision or criticize those who question 
that decision really have not had the benefit of a classified briefing, 
which will be offered to Members tomorrow.
  I am going to withhold any comments about those elements, as much as 
I can possibly say publicly, until I get the chance to have more 
information. But this much I do know: Regardless of that decision on 
General Soleimani, we know for certain the Constitution of the United 
States empowers the American people, through their elected 
Representatives in the Senate and the House, to make the ultimate 
decision about whether the United States will go to war with Iran or 
any other country on Earth. We have learned, bitterly, that the 
ignorance or refusal of Congress to exercise that constitutional right 
can be disastrous.
  Many of us have memories of the war in Vietnam, where 58,000 American 
lives were lost, 2 million Vietnamese were killed, and $170 billion--
now, in today's terms, $1 trillion--was spent on a conflict that 
divided America and cost so many American lives. Congress did not 
exercise the authority given to it under the Constitution to make the 
initial decision about that war in Vietnam. Many times thereafter, 
people said: Why didn't you step up and make the decision before this 
costly mistake was made?
  If there is to be a war with Iran, I join with Senator Kaine of 
Virginia in saying that the American people, once again, need to make 
this decision under the Constitution through Congress, article I, 
section 8, which provides, in clause 11, that only Congress has the 
power to declare war.
  If we are going to proceed down a path to war with Iran, the American 
people have the right to know and the right to hear the fulsome debate. 
In the time I have served in the Senate, I have seen Presidents in the 
past who have come before the American people with flimsy evidence or 
even misleading evidence to justify military action. I know the bitter 
consequences of war. Even the best American troops are going to suffer 
casualties and deaths in the execution of a war.
  Let us make certain that if we are going to move forward with 
hostilities against Iran, we do it under our constitutional requirement 
to have a fulsome debate before the American people and have an 
official declaration of war before we move forward. We owe the American 
people nothing less.