1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

I am writing to express serious concern about President Trump's unauthorized airstrikes against Islamic State Sahel Province in Sokoto state, Nigeria on Thursday. This military action, conducted without explicit Congressional approval, violates the constitutional requirement that Congress alone holds the power to authorize acts of war. The strikes in northwest Nigeria represent yet another military intervention in Trump's first year back in office, following strikes on Yemen, Iran, and Syria, despite his campaign promises to end endless wars. The US military's Africa Command confirmed the operation was carried out in coordination with Nigerian authorities, though an earlier statement claiming the strikes were conducted at Nigeria's request was subsequently removed, raising questions about the true nature of this cooperation. Trump's justification for these strikes, framed as protecting Christians from ISIS terrorists, oversimplifies Nigeria's complex security situation. Nigeria's government has explicitly rejected the framing of violence as religious persecution, noting that armed groups target both Muslims and Christians in a country with a population nearly evenly divided between the two faiths at 53% Muslim and 45% Christian. Analysts point to competition over land and water between itinerant Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farming communities, exacerbated by ethnicity and religion, as well as criminal kidnapping operations targeting religious leaders for ransom rather than ideological reasons. Using religiously motivated rhetoric to justify military action without Congressional authorization sets a dangerous precedent. The Constitution's framers deliberately placed war powers with Congress to prevent unilateral executive military adventures. This strike occurred just one day after a Christmas Eve bombing at a mosque in Borno killed at least five people and wounded over 30, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of violence in the region. I urge you to demand that the administration seek Congressional authorization before conducting any further military operations in Nigeria or elsewhere, and to reassert Congress's constitutional authority over decisions of war and peace.