Reactions from Kentucky’s congressional delegation are mixed following the U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a powerful Iranian military leader Thursday evening.
The Department of Defense said it took “defensive action” at President Donald Trump’s direction to kill Qasem Soleimani, who it said was planning attacks on American diplomats and service members in Iraq.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday the strike was in response to an “imminent attack” and “saved American lives.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the airstrikes were conducted without an Authorization for Use of Military Force and without the consultation of Congress.
Sen. Rand Paul
Sen. Rand Paul sent out a string of tweets Friday morning questioning the effects of Soleimani’s death.
“President Trump viscerally understands that the toppling of Saddam Hussein made Iran stronger,” Paul said in a tweet. “Soleimani, like Hussein, was an evil man who ordered the killing of Americans. Yet, the question remains, whether his death will lead to more instability in the Middle East or less.”
“The question today is whether the assassination of Soleimani will expand the war to endanger the lives of every American soldier or diplomat in the Middle East,” he added.
Paul also quoted the late Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, who in 1847 after the death of his son in the Mexican American War, said: “A declaration of war is the highest and most awful exercise of sovereignty. … Such a vast and tremendous power ought not to be confided to the perilous exercise of one single man.”
Paul pointed out if the United States goes to war, Congress must declare it, and said a war without Congress declaration “is a recipe for feckless intermittent eruptions of violence w/ no clear mission for our soldiers.”
He finished the Twitter thread with the statement, “Our young men and women in the armed services deserve better.”
Rep. Andy Barr
In his Twitter statement, Rep. Andy Barr called the airstrike a “massive victory.”
“This decisive response to Iranian-supported aggression against our Embassy in Baghdad is a massive victory for our Armed Forces, our Intelligence Community and the United States of America,” Barr said in the tweet.
Rep. James Comer
Rep. James Comer praised Trump and the military in a statement provided to The Courier Journal.
“I applaud President Trump and our Armed Forces for their bold and courageous action in taking out a brutal terrorist responsible for the bloodshed of hundreds of American citizens in Iraq,” Comer said.
Rep. Thomas Massie
Rep. Thomas Massie spoke to Leland Conway on WHAS Friday morning and said he’s “beyond trying to litigate” whether Trump had authorization in Iraq and is concerned about what happens next.
“I’m delighted that Pompeo has a plan if everything works out great,” Massie said. “What’s his plan if it doesn’t?”
He questioned whether the United States would ever leave Iraq, saying he doesn’t see the U.S. leaving its billion-dollar embassy, which the International Crisis Group says is the largest embassy in the world.
“They plopped it squarely in Iraq to keep us there forever,” Massie said.
Rep. John Yarmuth
Rep. John Yarmuth issued the following statement:
“I am deeply concerned by President Trump’s rapid escalation of hostilities with Iran and the lack of any discernible concern for the consequences. Qasem Soleimani was an enemy of the United States, but the decision to assassinate him without the consultation, much less authorization of Congress, and without support from our allies shows this not to be part of a deliberate strategy but the whim of an impetuous commander-in-chief. Iran has made it clear that they will retaliate.
The Trump administration must come before Congress to provide an explanation of what has happened thus far, what they believe might warrant further military action, and why they have brought us to the precipice of yet another deadly, open-ended war in the Middle East. Anything less would be a rejection of our Constitution and the foundation of our republic.
I call on my Republican colleagues to stop looking the other way and join Democrats in fulfilling our constitutional obligation of ensuring our nation has a full understanding of President Trump’s apparent push toward war.”
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Written by Emma Austin. Cross-posted from the
Courier-Journal via the Kentucky Press News Service,
with Rep. Yarmuth’s statement added.