Congressmen Jared Huffman, Mike Thompson say Trump’s actions risk Middle East war

Democratic Congressmen Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman expressed mutual concern Monday over President Donald Trump’s recent military action and inflammatory rhetoric directed at Iran, saying the commander-in-chief’s unilateral actions risk a renewed war in the Middle East.

Thompson, a Vietnam War combat veteran and a former House Intelligence Committee member for eight years, said Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force killed Friday in a drone strike ordered by Trump, was a “threat to the United States.”

“The problem is, you don’t do stuff like this without a plan, without a strategy and without working with our allies in that part of the world,” he said.

Soleimani’s assassination “turned him into a martyr” and has already prompted Iran to withdraw from the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 and rejected by Trump three years later, said Thompson, a St. Helena resident.

Iran’s promise to retaliate for the killing and Trump’s aggressive comments about a U.S. response add up to a scenario for war.

“I think that would be a disaster - worse than Iraq,” Thompson said, referring to the eight-year Middle East conflict that started in 2003 and has cost nearly 4,500 American lives and about $2 trillion.

Congress has been “kept out of the loop” on the escalating crisis, said Thompson, who called for a full classified briefing behind closed doors that would reveal the intelligence behind the drone attack and the strategy going forward.

The 2003 Iraq invasion was a “debacle ... in part brought on by faulty intelligence,” he said, referring to the George W. Bush administration’s assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Huffman, a San Rafael resident, pointed to the Iraqi parliament’s nonbinding vote to oust U.S. forces from their country as an “ominous sign” the troops will ultimately be forced out. In that case, the U.S. would lose its ability “to contain the malign influence of Iran within the region,” he said.

Describing the drone attack on Soleimani as a “trophy killing,” Huffman said he is alarmed by Trump’s ongoing Twitter feed that includes threats to attack Iranian cultural sites, which would constitute a war crime.

The tweets are “highly erratic and sometimes outrageous,” Huffman said, suggesting that Trump has no plan and “continues to improvise.” The approach, he said, destroys U.S. credibility with allies and inflames the Middle East.

“I have zero confidence that this administration has thought any of it through,” he said. In a tweet of his own, Huffman said the drone attack “takes us to the brink of a major war.”

It’s also possible that Trump’s actions are intended to provide him with political cover by diverting the nation’s attention from the impeachment process, Huffman said.

Like Thompson, he faulted the president for “acting as if he has a blank check” in the absence of congressional authorization to use military force against Iran.

Both congressmen said they will support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s move for a House vote this week on a war-powers resolution limiting Trump’s actions.