Scores killed, Middle East burning, but Trump isn't calling it a war. Here's why
India Today
Hundreds have been killed, and several countries are facing attacks since US President Donald Trump declared the start of major combat operations against Iran on Saturday. Why is Trump not calling it a war? And more importantly, is Trump's military action illegal by American laws?
US President Donald Trump declared the start of "major combat operations in Iran" to "to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime" on February 28. Trump's "combat operations" have, so far, managed to decimate the largest sections of Iran's top governing and military echelons, including killing its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and resulted in the conflict spreading across West Asia as Iranian munitions hit targets in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and others. But there are two inter-related questions—Why isn't Trump calling it "war" and are his military actions legal?
The power to declare war over another nation is a right vested exclusively in the hands of the US Congress, by Article 1 of the US Constitution. Section 8 of Article 1 gives the US Congress the exclusive right, "To declare War, to raise and support Armies, and to provide and maintain a Navy."
At the same time, however, the US Constitution also gives the US President the right to conduct a broad range of military actions, short of actually declaring war. Article 2 of the Constitution, authorises the US President as the Commander-in-Chief of the nation's armed forces to "American forces abroad and commit them to military operations when the President deems such action necessary to maintain the security and defence of the United States."
So, do the Trump presidency's actions against Teheran constitute an act of war, which requires Congressional approval to be legal? Or do they fall within the powers granted to the US President to secure the safety of the US?
That technicality might be preventing Trump from calling the military action in Iran a "war".
As we stated before, Article 1 of the US Constitution gives the US Congress the exclusive right to declare War. If the US President wants to declare a war, they will need to ensure that Congress drafts such a resolution or bill, and passes it through a simple majority in both the House and the Senate. Only after the bill or resolution, after being passed by Congress, and is signed by the President, can the US actually declare war.
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