WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional Democrats are upset today because President Joe Biden did not consult them, including Mogadishu, Somalia native Ilhan Omar. Omar lashed out a President Biden for attacking Iranian-backed rebels in Syria without prior approval from Congress.
Omar says Biden air strike may be an illegal military action
“I am deeply concerned about the legal justification of the airstrikes in Syria. Military action—in a country where Congress has not authorized war—is unconstitutional in almost all circumstances,” Omar, a Muslim said as she condemned the President. “The Administration must provide a legal rationale for why these strikes met the high bar for military action without Congressional approval. They must also provide transparency around any civilian casualties that resulted from the strike as soon as possible. These are the same questions we must ask regardless of the Administration. Our Congressional oversight duty does not change depending on who is in the White House.”
California Congressional Democrat Ro Khanna condemned the airstrike, “We cannot stand up for Congressional authorization before military strikes only when there is a Republican President. The Administration should have sought Congressional authorization here. We need to work to extricate from the Middle East, not escalate.”
Biden finishing what Obama Started?
The American presence in Syria dates back to the days when Joe Biden was vice-president under former President Barack Obama. In 2014, Obama coordinated a U.S.-led coalition against ISIS in Syria. Since 2014, the U.S. and the Obama-formed coalition have conducted nearly 20,000 airstrikes against Syria killing thousands of militants.
Biden airstrikes do nothing to end violence in Syria Omar says
“Aside from the questions of legality for this particular strike, we must understand this in the greater context of a failed strategy in the region. For years, the Syrian people have suffered from a brutal civil conflict that has metastasized into a proxy war for powers in the region and globally. Our presence in the war has done nothing to end the violence—but has only exacerbated the pain and suffering of the Syrian people. I am eager to hear from the Biden Administration as soon as possible about their strategy to finally end this horrific cycle of violence,” Omar said. “This will require significant diplomatic efforts—it simply cannot be solved by military means. We must address the suffering of the Syrian people, and look to legal avenues of justice for crimes committed by Assad, by ISIS, and by the foreign powers who have so callously used Syria as a battleground for their proxy wars.”