With multiple sources including Iranian state television reporting that Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed in the U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, questions arise as to what comes next in the way of leadership for the country. Two Congressmen who each represent part of Westchester had some thoughts on the subject. Both are members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Republican Congressman Mike Lawler, whose New York 17th Congressional District covers part of Westchester and Dutchess and all of Rockland and Putnam said that this is a prime opportunity for the Iranian people to take control of their country. Lawler gave his enthusiastic support to the latest U.S. military attack on Iran that President Trump described as “war” during a Feb. 28 interview with CNN.
“The president was fully justified and legally justified and any effort by my Democratic colleagues to say otherwise is a lie, it is false,” Lawler said. “We will get a briefing this week as required per the War Powers Act. The president did notify Congress, Congressional leaders were briefed, they were given advance notice and so the president is fully in compliance with both Article 2 (of the Constitution) and the War Powers Act.”
Democratic Congressman George Latimer, whose New York 16th Congressional District covers parts of Westchester and the Bronx told Westfair’s Westchester County Business Journal that there was no briefing by the Trump administration of the Foreign Affairs Committee prior to the launching the Feb. 28 attack on Iran, which the U.S. undertook in cooperation with Israel.
“There was no structural briefing that I’m aware of that was in advance. This is similar to what they did with the Venezuelan attack,” Latimer said. “If the president called on the leadership of the committee, you must remember that Republican leadership of the House and the Senate are both very tied to him in public policy matters, so I’m not really sure that’s a briefing for a separate branch of government to exert oversight. It’s just telling people who are doing your will, ‘this is what I’m doing.’”
Latimer emphasized that the Constitution gives the Congress the right to declare war because the founding fathers wanted to ensure that any one person could not launch a war for just his own reasons and without a consensus.
“When you get into a war there are consequences for everyday Americans,” Latimer said. “Some of it is economic. Importantly, their sons and daughters are going to go off to war and fight. In a case such as Iran, we may open ourselves up to terrorist attacks in American cities.”
Latimer noted that getting input and debating issues has never been Trump’s method of operation and that time and time again he has acted unilaterally, threatened members of his party who have differing opinions and even criticized the U.S. Supreme Court when it rules against him.
“He has never made a case to the American people or to those of us in office why he had to have strikes now,” Latimer said, pointing out that Trump has said that airstrikes he previously ordered against Iran “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. Latimer also underscored that Trump has not presented a plan for ensuring stability in Iran following the latest U.S. military action.
Lawler said, “The Iranian people obviously are going to have a little bit harder of a struggle to seize control, I think, but this will be the greatest opportunity that they will ever have to do it. For 47 years they have suffered and we want a free and prosperous Iran but moreover this is how you get long-term stability and peace in the Middle East.”
Latimer pointed out that after Trump staged a military action that captured Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro there was no plan of what to do next to and Maduro’s lieutenants took power.
“There’s been no layout before the Congress or the people, ‘what’s the plan for Iran,’” Latimer said. “If you do achieve regime change, you may actually strengthen the hardliners by what you’re doing. You’re not going to put boots on the ground — you don’t want to put people in there. It didn’t work in Iraq; it won’t work in Iran which is a bigger country. The people who take over are more likely to be angrier and have a justification because you came in and launched a preemptive war. If they ever do develop any kind of a weapon, they’ll drop it on Israel or the United States and justify it saying ‘you came in with an unjustified war against us.’ All of these things you have to think about clearly and strategically before you act.”
