Dr. Cindy Banyai (D), Candidate for Congress Florida District 19, statement on Soleimani strike

Image of fighters in an endless war in Iraq, Photo courtesy of New York Times

Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, along with a high-ranking Iraqi militia leader was killed in a US air raid at Baghdad's international airport. The Pentagon claimed credit for the strike and indicated POTUS authorized the attack.

This is an extremely disturbing event that threatens to further disrupt the Middle East and global security. It is hard to see how leveraging authority from use of force statutes issued in 2002 and 2004 in 2020 is anything more than a blanket legal farce for a sitting president to engage in any military strikes or assassinations seen as politically expedient.

"Eliminating individuals around the world via drone in the name of fighting terrorism has become the slippery slope leading us to the brink of war with Iran. Congress must act with the knowledge it has today to repeal these blanket legal authorizations for brazen international strikes without prior approval and without a clear and present danger to US national security," says Dr. Cindy Banyai, Candidate for Florida Congressional District 19 and adjunct faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration.

Dr. Banyai elaborates, "Calling on lessons from the Vietnam War, General Colin Powell penned rules of engagement (Powell Doctrine) that includes clear attainable objectives, support from the American people, and an exist strategy. We did not heed this sage advice while constructing the engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has lead to thousands of American lives lost, trillions of taxpayer dollars wasted, and a less stable region with the failure of neo-con nation building theories. It is time to end this experiment of endless war."

In addition to repealing the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, Congress needs to be more specifically involved in the decisions regarding extra national military engagements as is required by the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to ensure the voice of the American people, not just the political elite and benefiting industries, are heard.

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