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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned President Donald Trump's decision to assassinate Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Friday, calling the move "an act of war."
- Ocasio-Cortez said the dramatic escalation "risks the lives of millions of innocent people" and urged Congress to force the president to seek approval to go to war.
- The freshman congresswoman said Americans should choose peace over war because war "endangers us all."
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Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned President Donald Trump's decision to assassinate Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Friday, calling the move "an act of war" that "risks the lives of millions of innocent people."
She called on Americans to resist the arguments that war with Iran is the best path forward or inevitable, describing such rhetoric as "gaslighting." Like many other progressives, she said the Trump administration was leading the country into a dangerous unnecessary conflict, much like former President George W. Bush's did in Iraq after the 9/11 terror attacks.
"Right now is the moment to decide if you are pro-peace or not," she wrote in a series of tweets. "The cheerleaders of war, removed from its true cost, will gladly convince you that up is down - just as they did in Iraq in '03. But war does not establish peace. War does not create security. War endangers us all."
Ocasio-Cortez pushed her colleagues in Congress to act to force the president to seek congressional approval to go to war. She said there were two "immediate" steps lawmakers could take - pass a war-powers resolution and reintroduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.
The first would allow Congress to vote on whether the executive branch is authorized to move forward with a new war, and the second would prevent the president from using taxpayer dollars on a war with Iran.
"Congress now has a moral and legal obligation to reassert its power to stop this war and protect innocent people from horrific consequences," she said.
Last night the President engaged in what is widely being recognized as an act of war against Iran, one that now risks the lives of millions of innocent people.
Now is the moment to prevent war & protect innocent people - the question for many is how, publicly & Congressionally:
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 3, 2020Right now is the moment to decide if you are pro-peace or not.
The cheerleaders of war, removed from its true cost, will gladly convince you that up is down - just as they did in Iraq in '03.
But war does not establish peace.
War does not create security.
War endangers us all.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 3, 2020War advocates start off saying "we all want peace, but..." or "it's too late..." & frame a pro-peace agenda as naïve to realpolitik.
Don't give into this gaslighting. The same folks selling us Iraq and selling us this latest provocation of violence. We cannot repeat this cycle.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 3, 2020Congress now has a moral and legal obligation to reassert its power to stop this war and protect innocent people from horrific consequences.
We have two immediate options:
1. Vote on a War Powers Resolution, which requires Trump to attain Congressional approval.
2.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 3, 20202. Reintroduce & vote on @RepRoKhanna's bipartisan NDAA amendment, which blocks $ offensive action to Iran.
This amendment passed the House w/ bipartisan support not long ago, and was later gutted in negotiations. We can bring it back as a standalone bill.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 3, 2020