Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., think the best way to avoid a war with Iran is to use politics.
In an opinion piece for CNN posted Monday, the two lawmakers who have tried to curb presidential powers when it comes to the use of military force argued that bipartisan opposition to military conflicts is a way to prevent them from happening.
"First, we must recognize that the Vietnam and Iraq Wars were, tragically, bipartisan affairs," they wrote.
"The solution, then, is to make our opposition to a war with Iran bipartisan as well, and strong enough to take on the competing bipartisan consensus made up of arms manufacturers, lobbyists, hawkish think tanks and the military industrial complex that dominate our government in order to profit from endless war."
Sanders and Khanna then said that has been taking place in recent years, and the result is several Republicans — they listed Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. — are now opposed to "an illegal military intervention against Iran."
The effort to stop wars will need to also involve the American public, they wrote, as "no successful effort to end war happened without massive grassroots pressure."
U.S.-Iran relations have been frosty for the past four decades, and the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, followed by an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases that house U.S. soldiers, are the latest developments in a rocky history.
Lawmakers are worried about the U.S. going to war with Iran, although the White House appears to be doing its best to steer clear of a direct and prolonged confrontation.
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