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.
__________________________________
Follow me on Twitter! Check out my website, The First Street Journal, for stories not on American Free News network.
_________________________________
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
_________________________________
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA
1 thought on “The War Powers Resolution of 1973 and Iran”