[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H18-H19]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Doggett) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, ``All is well!'' ``So far, so good!''
  This is the latest sequel in Trump's government-by-tweets, that 
couldn't be further from reality. Hopefully, we pray that no American 
lives were lost last night. But every American is less safe today than 
before Trump's assassination of a major foreign leader. He has taken us 
to the brink of war, and, hopefully, he will use the opportunity of a 
restrained counterattack not to escalate further but to seek an off-
ramp to deescalate the crisis that could endanger the world.
  Attack begetting attack, and hate begetting hate--in that direction 
lies the abyss. The only justification that he can offer for ignoring 
President Ronald Reagan's Executive Order against assassination of 
foreign leaders is that of an imminent attack, that we need to get them 
before they get us. He has failed to offer any such evidence of an 
imminent attack to justify this rash assassination that previous 
administrations, Republican and Democrat, and the Israelis who had the 
capacity to do this, recognized posed more danger than good.
  ``Overreliance on our packing the biggest gun and having the fastest 
draw as in some old John Wayne western movie does not truly make us 
safer. This is not a formula for the safety of our families. It is a 
formula for international anarchy. A quick draw may eliminate the 
occasional villain, but it comes at the cost of destabilizing the 
world, disrupting the hope of international law and order, and, 
ultimately, it will make even Austin a very unsafe place in which to 
live.''
  Those were the precise words I used in challenging the horrendous 
Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq, and they apply even more today to the war 
with Iran, a country that is about four times

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the size and three times the population of prewar Iraq and has far more 
capacity to do harm to us and our allies.
  Trump has no plan and no strategy in the Middle East. Ending one 
general's life is not an endgame. Like the invasion of Iraq, already 
the biggest winner from Trump's misguided non-policy is the country 
that he opposes the most, Iran, whose allies now in Iraq have asked all 
of our troops to leave and who have called them occupiers; Iran, whose 
presence has caused the removal of all civilian employees and foreign 
service officers of the United States from Iraq.
  Now, with the assassination, Trump has united those who were once 
opposing the regime in Iran. In Iran, there are incredible protests, 
and in Iraq there are protests against Iranian influence. So after 
abandoning our Kurdish allies and surrendering that part of the Middle 
East to our adversaries, Trump has now managed to unite the many people 
who were favorable to the United States and who were questioning the 
very malicious presence of Iran.
  I believe that Congress must act and this House must act to assert 
its constitutional authority to rein in this out-of-control President. 
Last July, we attempted to do just that. I voted with a strong majority 
in this House to adopt the Khanna amendment to basically say that we 
would deny all funds for his attacking Iran without his coming first to 
this Congress to justify it; and I supported a second amendment that 
was adopted by our colleague, Representative Lee, which made it clear 
that there is no authorization for use of military force that exists on 
the books today that justifies any offensive action against Iran.
  This House should use the full strength of our authority to restrict 
President Trump from rushing into another war that will be so costly to 
us in blood and treasure. It is a war that American families do not 
want.
  As one very concerned father movingly wrote to me this week: ``[If] 
my son is to be deployed to protect and serve our country, please do 
your best to be sure it is for the right reasons. He is proud to 
[serve] and will do his duty to the best of his ability without 
question. His Mother and I could not be prouder. Please don't let it be 
about some ill-conceived political distraction from an egomaniacal 
madman.''
  Let us come together to build a better path forward. Let us give 
peace a chance.

                          ____________________