Immediate Action Regarding Trump Ordered Killing

President Trump ordered a killing, which was executed. He is bragging about it. Below are two pieces, one from Indivisible National and one from an OI member with actions you can take right now.
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From Indivisible:
Late last night, Trump ordered the assassination of a top commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Qassim Suleimani (see The New York Times report here), with no authorization from Congress. Along with the Major General, the drone strike killed four others, not all of whom have yet been named.
What do I need to know?· Trump ordered a drone strike outside Baghdad’s international airport last night that killed a powerful foreign military leader. Any assassination is a big deal, but by way of context, in the US, this would be something like a foreign government assassinating the Vice President outside the Toronto airport. 
· Trump is taking us to unnecessary war. When Trump entered office in 2016, he inherited one of the best chances we’ve had in decades for peaceful relations with Iran. Three years later, with a cabinet full of warmongers, he’s now assassinating Iranian leaders. (Read more from our partners at Win Without War here). 
· This wasn’t a defensive action. The idea that this strike will prevent future attacks on Americans and our interests around the world defies logic. It. Will. Not. If anything, our risk just went up tenfold (Senator Chris Murphy gets it right in this tweet). The same voices who sold the disastrous Iraq War will have hot takes about how this was a critical defensive action in the coming days -- don’t be fooled.
· This is possible because Congress let it happen. Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution says, "Congress shall have power to ... declare War." But Congress has ceded authority over the military to the Executive Branch. That’s why for years we’ve been calling on Congress to reassert its constitutional authority, and why we’ll continue to do so.
With nothing more than an empty statement from the Pentagon and a (bonkers) tweet of an American flag, Trump is transparently and unequivocally gambling with the safety of the American people and pulling us to the brink of war with Iran. And we don’t even know why he did it -- unless this tweet he sent in 2011 about Obama offers a little clue.
What can I do right now? Though they don’t always act like it, Congress is a co-equal branch of government that holds tremendous power to check Trump’s recklessness. So they must step in immediately. This situation will evolve over the next few days, but right now the most important thing every Member of Congress can do is to clearly and unequivocally state that they condemn this strike and are opposed to war with Iran. We can’t overstate how critical this is. We are on the precipice of war, and Congress is perhaps our only hope of stopping it. 
Click here right now to call your Members of Congress and tell them to do everything in their power to rein in Trump’s catastrophic escalation. 
We’ll keep you updated as news develops and congressional asks become more clear.
This movement began to stop the Trump agenda -- this is what we’re here for. We’re proud to be indivisible with all of you.
In solidarity,
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From an OI member:

The U.S. Constitution says ONLY CONGRESS can declare war.  Last night Trump violated the Constitution by starting a war against Iran.  See the information below.  Tell Congress to:
 
·      Obey the Constitution and hold Trump accountable by writing a new Article of Impeachment about this.
·      Use the 1973 War Powers Resolution to STOP Trump’s war against Iran
 
The U.S. has conducted dozens of wars for many decades, but the last time Congress actually declared war was for World War II.  What’s different now is that Trump is a sociopath who has spent three years acting like a “strong man” dictator, and many psychologists and psychiatrists are saying his mental illnesses and mental functioning are deteriorating even further.  More than any other president, Trump shows utter contempt for the rule of law and the Constitution.  His new war against Iran is just the latest example of his escalating abuses.
 
Congress has been failing to hold Trump accountable for his many crimes and his many violations of the Constitution.  Trump has seen Congress’s timidity as permission to escalate.  The two articles of impeachment are only the tip of the iceberg.  We need more articles of impeachment about his unconstitutional war against Iran and other serious crimes and constitutional violations.
 
Please:
·      Sign the petition below
·      Phone Representative Denny Heck (Washington DC:  202-225-9740, and Lacey WA:  360-459-8514)
·      Phone Senator Patty Murray (202-224-2621, and press 3 to leave your message)
·      Phone Senator Maria Cantwell (202-224-3441)
·      Phone House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (202-225-4965)
 
 
From: info=justforeignpolicy.org@mail.salsalabs.net [mailto:info=justforeignpolicy.org@mail.salsalabs.net] On Behalf Of Just Foreign Policy
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2020 7:40 AM
Subject: Congress: Force a War Powers Vote to Stop Trump's War on Iran
 

Urge Members of Congress to invoke the War Powers Resolution to block an illegal war against Iran 
Sign the petition
Dear
 
In violation of Article I of the U.S. Constitution, Trump has assassinated Iran’s top military official while he was in Iraq (he was a national hero to Iranians for reportedly leading the fight against ISIS -- polls indicated he was Iran’s most popular figure). As a result of this action, conflict with Iran is now expected to escalate further. 
 
Congress never authorized this act of war, which Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders called a “dangerous escalation” that “brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East.” In October 2002, Congress authorized military action against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, acting on the Bush Administration’s false claim that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction to attack the United States. In 2014, the Obama Administration sent U.S. forces back to Iraq to fight ISIS, claiming this was authorized by the 2001 AUMF passed by Congress against Al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks. But Congress has never authorized the use of military force against Iran, making this action by Trump illegal and unconstitutional. 
 
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, any Member of the House or Senator can introduce a “privileged” resolution that requires their chamber to take a vote on the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities that Congress has not authorized. 
 
This is how we forced Congress to vote on unauthorized U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen, even though both Republican and Democratic Leadership didn’t want Congress to vote on it.  It was exactly in anticipation of this situation – when the President is conducting an unauthorized war, and the Congressional leadership doesn’t want Congress to vote on it – that Congress in 1973 added this provision to allow any Member of Congress to force a vote on an unauthorized war.  As Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar said: “Real question is, will those with congressional authority step in and stop him? I know I will.” 
 
It’s not too late to stop this escalation. But Members of Congress need to act now. Urge your Representative and Senators to invoke the War Powers Resolution to force floor votes on stopping unauthorized war with Iran. 
 
Please SIGN our petition and RETWEET the petition on Twitter.
(each time you retweet it, staff working for the 4 Democratic leaders included in the tweet receive a notification).
 
Thank you for all you do to make U.S. foreign policy more just,
Erik, Sarah, and the Just Foreign Policy Team
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