1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose President Trump's military action against Iran, which constitutes unauthorized warfare without congressional approval or clear strategic justification. The President has launched what amounts to a discretionary war aimed at regime change without consulting Congress, explaining his strategy to the American public, or building a coalition of allies. This violates the constitutional requirement that Congress authorize military action and sets a dangerous precedent for executive overreach. The scale of this undertaking is staggering. Iran has 92 million people, compared to Iraq's 37 million in 2003 and Libya's 7.5 million in 2011. Yet Trump has not identified what conditions would signal achievement of U.S. goals, has not specified to whom the Iranian regime should surrender, and has not ruled out deploying American ground troops. The U.S. has only Israel as an openly declared ally, no serious armed rebel force exists within Iran, and no coalition is assembling. History demonstrates the catastrophic consequences of poorly planned military interventions. In 1991, George H.W. Bush called on Iraqis to rise up against Saddam Hussein after stripping him of military power, leading to genocide against Kurds and Marsh Arabs. In 2003, the U.S. removed the Iraqi regime but mismanaged the aftermath by disbanding the military and exiling Ba'ath Party members. Libya was abandoned to chaos after Qaddafi's fall. The current approach has far more ways to fail than succeed. Potential outcomes include the regime surviving and becoming more brutal, replacement by an even worse military junta, effective Iranian retaliation leading to cycles of violence, or Iran disrupting shipping lanes and baiting the U.S. into a larger war. I urge you to demand that the President seek congressional authorization before any further military action and to oppose funding for unauthorized operations against Iran. The Constitution requires congressional approval for war, and this situation demands it.