President Donald Trump said the U.S. attacked three sites in Iran related to the country’s nuclear program.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. attacked three sites in Iran related to the country’s nuclear program.
Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said it was too early to know the success of a series of U.S. attacks against Iran – calling the strikes a “massive gamble” on the part of President Donald Trump and citing past U.S. military action in the region.
“I mean, we’ve seen this movie before. Every conflict in the Middle East has its Senator Tom Cotton who promised us mushroom clouds,” Himes told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
“In the Iraq war, it was Condoleezza Rice promising us a mushroom cloud. And initially – and this is true of every one of these wars, in Libya … in Iraq and Afghanistan – initially, things look pretty good,” Himes continued. “Saddam Hussein is gone. Muammar Gaddafi is gone. The Afghan Taliban are gone. And then over time, we start to learn what the cost is: 4,400 Americans dead in Iraq. The Taliban back in power.”
Himes said it’s too soon to call the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities a success and cautioned against applauding them.
“But bottom line is we don’t know, and if you look at the three conflicts I just mentioned, I would keep the optimism under the hat for a little while yet,” he said.
Himes also said that he was “disturbed” by the fact that the strikes were undertaken without the approval of Congress, which he said holds the sole authority to declare war.
“There’s not much ambiguity in the Constitution about who gets to approve these things,” Himes said.
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