Kaine On MSNBC: The U.S. Should Never Go To War To Protect Saudi Oil
Watch here: https://timkaine.box.com/s/k44lwb2vqe6v3u8i8wsqou28eh4fr012
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today in an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, condemned the Trump Administration for belligerent rhetoric that risks leading the United States towards an unnecessary war with Iran to protect Saudi Arabian oil. In the interview, Kaine said if the President were to take unauthorized military action against Iran, he would file a war powers resolution to force a Senate vote to immediately end military action.
“To put our troops in another war in the Middle East – I say this as the father of a Marine: To put our troops in another war in the Middle East to protect Saudi oil would be absolutely ridiculous. And I'm going to do everything I can as an Armed Services Committee and Foreign Relations member to stop the U.S. from getting in another Middle East war, especially to protect the Saudis, ” Kaine said.
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“It would be so unwise and unjust for us to put this on the shoulders of our troops and their families. The Saudis and Iranians are essentially next door neighbors. They’re separated by a small body of water. They got to figure out their own problems. You know they are – they're engaged in a proxy war throughout the Middle East that's crushing people in many, many different countries. We ought to be…de-escalating tensions rather than do what the President has done which is raised tensions throughout the region by blowing up the diplomatic deal with Iran,” Kaine continued.
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“If the President decides to ignore the Constitution and start military action without us, there is a provision under the War Powers Resolution that gives us the ability to file immediately a resolution to stop military action, and we're guaranteed a vote on that on the floor. If the President foolishly decides that America should go to war to protect Saudi oil, we will file that resolution immediately. We will force a vote on the Senate floor in full view of the American public. I come from a state that's very connected to the military and I'll tell you, my state does not think – the veteran-heavy, military-heavy Commonwealth of Virginia – does not believe that another war in the Middle East makes any sense whatsoever,” Kaine concluded.
Kaine introduced a bipartisan amendment to the national defense bill to prohibit unconstitutional war with Iran.
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