- 18 June 2012
- 0 Comments
- Congress, Neo-Con Agenda, US-Iran War
This past weekend, Bill Kristol came out and said the President should seek an authorization for war with Iran from Congress. It’s no surprise that Kristol and friends have ratcheted up their rhetoric in the days ahead of critical negotiations with Iran that the pro-war hawks hope will go badly.
Given a chance to weigh in on Kristol’s comments on Face the Nation, Mitt Romney doubled down.
Romney said the President already has the “capacity” to go to war with Iran right now–without need for further Congressional approval.
“I don’t believe at this stage, therefore, if I’m President, that we need to have war powers approval or a special authorization for military force. The President has that capacity now. I understand that some in the Senate, for instance, have written letters to the President indicating you should know that– that a– a containment strategy is unacceptable.”
Romney apparently believes that if a few Senators write letters saying containment is unacceptable, you’ve got your war authorization.
While that may not hold up in court, the House has indeed passed an AIPAC-supported resolution ruling out containment of a “nuclear weapons capable” Iran. NIAC warned that Congress was giving the current or future occupant of the White House a “blank check” for war. When the resolution came up for a vote, the top Democrat on House Foreign Affairs took time on the House floor to state on the record that it is NOT an authorization for force and the President would need to seek such authorization from Congress before waging war on Iran. The statement convinced some Members concerned about an Iraq rerun to get off the fence and vote for the resolution. It is unclear if it convinced Obama that the President can’t go to war with Iran just yet–but Romney clearly was not convinced.