Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY 4th District) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) are Republicans, but they are also two of the very few libertarians (not Libertarians) elected to Congress. Both have long opposed wars, and are definitely not neocons, and both sponsored concurrent resolutions to force President Trump to pull back military forces from any conflict in Iran.
Some conservatives regard them as squishes, but the Democrats don’t like them either! Mr Massie faces a primary challenge in this year’s elections, and the President doesn’t like him, but Senator Paul’s seat is not up for election this year.
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 USC §1541-1550), the President has sixty days to remove American military forces from areas in which hostilities reasonably may occur unless specifically authorized by Congress to stay longer. The President has an additional thirty days to do so if he certifies that the extra time is needed to pull out forces in a safe and orderly manner.(§1544(a))
Mr Massie tweeted, after the concurrent resolution narrowly failed in the House, “(S)adly we’ve now abdicated that responsibility,” but that isn’t quite accurate; under the law, the troops still have to come home by 60 to 90 days after the beginning of the strikes against the Islamic Republic, without Congress having to do a single thing.
The War Powers Resolution was passed over President Nixon’s veto, when it hadn’t received a veto-proof margin on initial passage, because a few more Democrats, specifically including Representative Bella Abzug of New York, changed their votes as a means of increasing the pressure to impeach Mr Nixon; those additional Democrats had initially voted against the bill, claiming it gave the President expanded war powers, rather than restricting them.
The votes in the House and Senate were consistent with the law, which gave Congress the power to require an earlier exit(§1544(b) via a concurrent resolution, something the President cannot veto. The resolutions failed in both the House and Senate, meaning that unless they try another concurrent resolution, President Trump still has to withdraw military forces within the sixty (or ninety) day window, without any further action by Congress.
I agree with this! While I am very pleased that the mad mullahs and their henchmen have been sent to their 72 bacha bazi boys, I was not thrilled that the United States took military action; I would much rather have seen the Persian people overthrow the government on their own.
Vizzini once said, “You fell victim to one of the classic blunders – the most famous of which is ‘never get involved in a land war in Asia’ – but only slightly less well-known is this: ‘Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line’!” It’s a good thing that the Iranian government has been shattered, but we now need to leave it up to the Persian people to set up a new one. Our military forces should go in and destroy every Iranian nuclear facility utterly, and that’s all.
Hello. This is for Dana Pico. I read on article you wrote about the death of Thomas Siderio in a police shooting incident. I recently was involved in an incident with his mother Desirae Frame. She crashed her car head on into mine while I was stopped sitting in traffic. She and her passenger then fled the scene, leaving her destroyed vehicle on the sidewalk of Snyder Avenue where the incident occurred. Then, however, her boyfriend showed up (they live a few blocks away from the scene) rummage through the car, gave the police her insurance information and then fled himself, without identifying himself other than as her boyfriend. He also attempted to remove the plate. Nonetheless, her car was completely abandoned. Also listed on her insurance, aside fron the Infiniti she crashed into me, were a Corvette and a Cadillac. She just received upwards of 300,000 from the 3 million settlement awarded as a result of the shooting of her son. Still no word on whether the police will follow up but I do know, as of a few weeks after the incident, she had yet to report it to her insurance company. I am injured and out of a car. Just thought you might find it humorous.