Top Democrat says Trump attacks Iran a “mass and massive bet”

Representative Jim Himes, the Classification Democrat in the Chamber Intelligence Committee, said it was too early to know the success of a series of US attacks against Iran, describing the strikes a “mass commitment” by President Donald Trump and citing a more passed American military action in the region.

“I mean, we have seen this film before. Each conflict in the Middle East has its Senator Tom Cotton that he promised us clouds of fungi. In the Iraq War, it was Condoleezza Rice that promised us a cloud of fungi. And initially, and this is true of each of these wars, in Libya, in Iraq, in Iraq and Afghanistan, initially, things look quite good. He is gone.

Himes said it is too early to call attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and warned against applauding them.

“But the conclusion is that we do not know, and if you look at the three conflicts I just mentioned, I would maintain optimism under the hat for a time still,” he added.

Himes also said that he was “disturbed” by the fact that the strikes were carried out without the approval of the Congress, which has the only authority to declare war.

“There is not much ambiguity in the Constitution about who can approve these things,” Himes said.

Here are more outstanding aspects of the HIMES interview:

Himes about Trump’s critics who support Saturday strikes

Karl: But some of the president’s critics have applauded the action last night. Let me read what Adam Kinzinger obviously no friend of the president, he had to say. He said: “The United States attack against nuclear facilities in my opinion was the right decision. We will see what the results are, but now, the key, but now, the key is to suppress the surface to surface missile fire and negotiate the end of the fight with Iran. Good call by the president.” Is it possible that this ends up being just that, a good decision by President Trump?

HIMES: Is it possible? Once again, reserve the constitutional problems that we should never reserve because the Constitution matters, is there any possibility that, you know, we obtain all the nuclear material, the regime falls, and you know, next spring, we are doing a picnic in Summer with? Yes, there is some possibility that this is true. But if you look at the story, and again, all we have is history to continue, if you look at the history of our military participations in the region, they almost never end the best stage. In fact, they usually end in something that approaches the worst case.

In the worst case in Iran

Karl: And what do you think is the worst case?

HIMES: Oh, well, the worst case is that, you know, the Iranians have many more missiles than we believe they do, and we end up with dead soldiers and sailors in the region, who managed to take out the nuclear material from Fordo, and is in a warehouse at this time. And while we talk, they are building a device. I mean, believe me, I will admit that there are some small possibilities of a best case scenario here, there is always. But again, the story suggests that it is better than it is well, you know, aware of the fact that the best scenario almost never happens. So, I mean, you can paint a truly apocalyptic image of any number of dozen.