An Allegany County man worries that Congress is repeating the mistakes of the Iraq War
An OPINION by Nate Martin, Centerville NY
I recently contacted my congressional representative, Nick Langworthy, asking him to vote “yes” House Resolutions 61 and 64, which direct the president to follow the War Powers Act. He voted “no” and responded “Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to the Trump Administration’s strike on a Tren de Aragua (TdA) drug trafficking boat.” Given that I expressed no opposition to anything, he turned my request to assert that the President must follow the law into an accusation of support for drug trafficking gangs. Now I am angry.
I watched the buildup to the Iraq War, which killed more Americans (4,431) than the 9/11 attacks, and according to the Department of Defense, cost more than $1.4 trillion. Supposedly, the war was to destroy Saddam Hussain’s weapons of mass destruction, but there were none. At the time, those who questioned the wisdom of the war were accused of supporting the evil dictatorship of Saddam Hussain.
We live under the threat of war. On December 18, President Trump told NBC news that he is not ruling out war with Venezuela and the administration is already blockading oil leaving the country. Blockades are an act of war unless used for self-defense and it is hard to see how blockading the export of oil effects drug trafficking gangs.
Congress is not a perfect curb on presidential desires to be war presidents—Congress approved the Iraq War—but it is what the founding fathers left us. We need to know why we are headed into war with Venezuela and our only option is Congress. We need our representatives to do the job the Constitution assigns them. Nick Langworthy is my representative, but he does not seem to want to do his job.
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