Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Wednesday called on President Biden to present a clear strategy to counter attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and to push Yemen further. He claimed that a US-led bombing campaign was underway against terrorists based there. The group may be “escalating” tensions in the Middle East.
“Every president has inherent authority under Article II to protect the United States,” Kaine said in an interview with CNN. “And that has always been understood to mean protecting U.S. service members, U.S. military assets, and perhaps even U.S. commercial assets. [Biden] There is no need to obtain permission from Congress. ”
“But when you go on the offensive against a group, and it's more than just self-defense, and now suddenly there's an escalation of response, classically when it becomes an offensive operation rather than just a defensive operation. ,” the Senate Armed Services said. Added by committee member.
Mr Kane, 65, said most of the ships sailing in the Red Sea were “foreign-flagged ships” and that while there might be “good strategic reasons to protect them”, it was not a “constitutional self-defense rationale”. ”, he pointed out. ”
The Virginia Democrat and three other senators – Todd Young (R-Ind.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) – wrote a letter to Bidenon Tuesday, raised these concerns and urged the president to seek a favorable vote from Congress before launching any offensive military action in Yemen.
“We are trying to deter and degrade, and yet the administration actually anticipates that the Houthis will pick up the pace,” Kaine told CNN, referring to questions he asked Biden in the letter. “If we are actually doing that, what kind of strategy should we adopt?” .
“What is the strategy? How do we de-escalate? And what are your legal powers? You need to be briefed on that,” he continued. “And I think we need to involve Congress, because the last thing we want to do is get into another war in the Middle East without really careful consideration and public debate. ”
“Everything we're seeing suggests that escalation is going to continue. If that's going to happen, we need to bring Congress to this issue,” Kaine argued.
The Houthis have launched more than 30 attacks on international and commercial vessels in the Red Sea since November last year. According to the Department of Defense.
On January 11, US and British forces carried out the first of a series of airstrikes targeting Houthi strongholds in Yemen.
Asked last week whether airstrikes would be effective in deterring Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Biden said: no. “
The president also vowed to continue airstrikes.
