OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — As Congress looks to limit President Trump’s power on further U.S. attacks on Iran, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee is reflecting on her time in office when the was the sole “no” vote to authorize the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the Iraq War that followed.
“This president has gone to war without an authority, and I know what’s that like. He just, based on his own instincts, decided to use force,” explains Mayor Lee.
Lee says she knows what his moment means because more than 20 years ago, then Representative Lee was the lone “no” vote to authorize the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
“I was the only one who voted ‘no’ because it was overly broad and would give any president, after that, the authority to use force. And so, I am sure this president used that authorization,” suggests Lee.
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Following the attack by the U.S. and Israel on Iran, Congress will vote on the war powers resolutions calling for congressional approval for more attacks. The Senate bill, cosponsored by California Senator Adam Schiff, did not pass Wednesday. The House will vote Thursday on a bill co-authored by Bay Area Representative Ro Khanna. It’s also unlikely to overcome republican opposition, but Mayor Lee says this type of legislation is still important.
“The bogus misinformation that Donald Trump Presented was wrong. Just as after Collin Powell, remember, went to the United Nations said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and had that mushroom cloud? There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I knew that!” says Lee.
Lee has been working on Iran issues since 1998. She introduced the very first legislation to end the “no contact” policy with Iran, in an effort to create diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Iran, which broke off following Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Lee also helped to negotiate the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration. Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 agreement between Iran and the P5+1 (USA, UK, France, China, Russia, plus Germany) designed to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, limiting it to civilian use, in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran remains one of the most sanctioned countries in the world. The nonpartisan think-tank Council on Foreign Relations estimates sanction “starved” the Iranian economy of more than $100 billion in revenue between 2012-2014 alone.
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“I was part of the gang of eight that negotiated the Iran nuclear deal, which was the JCPOA. It was working,” says Lee. “They were not enriching. They were complying with the nuclear agreement. And then Donald Trump comes in, first time around, and just destroys that.”
If both war powers act fails, Lee says committees, like the Foreign Affairs Committee, can still work to contain the war or deny weapons that are used.
She says this moment is weighing heavy on her.
“I am thinking about this and wondering and hoping that history does not repeat itself. Because this is a dangerous moment. It was dangerous then. And it is dangerous now. And so I am hoping and praying, I am woman of faith, that somehow, reason will prevail before this gets out of hand,” says Lee.
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