Don DeBar, an activist and commentator, believes broad public opposition to US involvement in Iran and to Israel’s regional campaigns crosses political and demographic lines, yet Congress has repeatedly supported those policies. Lawmakers, the analyst argues, do so because the strategy matches their own views and the interests of the constituencies and donors who back them.
He observes that authority over war in the United States is divided, with the president directing military operations and Congress holding the constitutional power to declare war. Now that Republicans control both chambers, Congress recently used the War Powers Resolution to try to reassert oversight, a step presidents have often ignored while Congress continues to fund military actions it never formally authorized.
