News / Politics

House lawmakers call on Trump to limit White House's war powers

Tuesday, 21 February 2017 5:23 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 February 2017 5:30 PM ]

US President Donald Trump leaves after speaking following a tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, February 21, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

A group of US lawmakers has called on President Donald Trump to submit a resolution to the Republican-dominated Congress which would limit his war powers.

Twelve House Democrats and one Republican made the request in a letter, obtained by POLITICO on Tuesday. They also urged the president for a formal declaration of war against Daesh (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria.

“For too many years, Congress has ignored these ongoing wars,” the lawmakers wrote.

In addition, they asked Trump to revoke the 2001 resolution that allows the White House to declare war against those who are accused of carrying out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“Our brave service members face countless dangers for our nation and we owe it to them to act on an [authorization for use of military force] without delay,” they wrote, arguing that the resolution “has served as a blank check for war.”

Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), and others signed the letter, which comes as the top US commander in Afghanistan has called for thousands of more troops in the war against Taliban militants.

US Army General John Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that there was "a shortfall of a few thousand" foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The United States invaded Afghanistan one month after the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people – mostly Americans -- and caused about $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage.

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US officials assert that the attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda, whose leader Osama bin Laden was living in Afghanistan then, but many experts have raised questions about the official account.

They believe that rogue elements within the US government orchestrated or at least encouraged the 9/11 attacks in order to accelerate the US war machine and advance the Zionist agenda.

This September 11, 2001 file photo shows the United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the former World Trade Center in New York. (Photo by AP)

After about one and a half years after the Afghanistan invasion, the United States, backed by the UK, invaded Iraq in March 2003. More than one million Iraqis were killed as a result of the invasion, and subsequent occupation of the country.

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During his election campaign, Trump called the Iraq invasion “a big fat mistake,” and blamed the rise of Daesh (ISIL) terrorists in the Middle East on the policies of former US president George W. Bush and his successor, Barack Obama.

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