President Donald Trump sent a volatile notice into the Twittersphere Sunday afternoon,?? ??? ??? ??? giving the 535 members of Congress a heads up that the United States military will "quickly & fully strike back" if Iran attacks the United States.
Legal experts quickly responded to the absurdities and inaccuracies of Trump's tweet, mostly about a violation of the nearly 50-year-old War Powers Act. This law, among other matters, "requires the President to consult with Congress before introducing U.S. armed forces into hostilities or situations where hostilities are imminent, and to continue such consultations as long as U.S. armed forces remain in such situations," according to the Library of Congress.
But as Oona Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, pointed out, the president's tweet violates the War Powers Act in a number of ways.
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For example, the War Powers Act, passed by Congress in 1973, requires the president to notify Congress of military hostilities, though Trump claimed his Twitter notice "is not required."
Trump also said the U.S. would strike back "perhaps in a disproportionate manner," but Hathaway noted that's a violation of international law. "Any action taken in self defense (the apparent justification for the strikes) must be necessary and proportionate to the threat posed," she said.
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Broadly, folks who practice, study, or report on international politics expressed dismay that Trump would choose to air proclamations about a war that will endanger U.S. lives (over 6,900 U.S. troops have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars) with such blunders and misinformation via Twitter.
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It's just Sunday at the White House. Meanwhile, across the globe, a colossal crowd of Iranians stretching some 20 miles long gathered to mourn the assassination of Iran's General Qassim Suleimani, who Trump ordered killed by a drone strike on Friday. Hostilities between the nations have almost certainly just begun.