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Rep. Tom Cole To Request Authorization For Use Of Force

cole.house.gov
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma)

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, says he and a bipartisan group of Congressmen will send a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan this week to request a new Congressional Authorization for the Use of Force.

The request comes after U.S. ships fired missiles at an airbase in Syria last Thursday. The country’s ruler, Bashar al-Assad, used the airbase to deploy apparent chemical weapons against Syrian citizens last week.

Cole has long argued for a new authorization. The administration is currently working under an authorization that was approved in 2001 following the September 11 attacks. Cole says military operations in Syria were not even under consideration at the time, and ISIS did not yet exist.

“It seems to me you need a whole new set of congressional authorizations, you need a vigorous debate about it. And members of Congress ought to have to vote yes or no,” Cole said.

Cole says he believes regime change should come to Syria in the “longer term” because he does not think Assad can effectively rule the country. However, he does not think an American intervention is necessary. Cole agrees with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has stated the decision to up to the Syrian people.

“I don't consider Syria, as in and of itself, vital to American interests,” Cole said. “But I do think we have a vital interest in, number one, making sure that countries and groups don't use chemical weapons or any form of WMD. We do have a vital interest in going after ISIS wherever they are at because they have demonstrated they're a dangerous and deadly foe.”

Rep. Cole says he believes President Donald Trump acted within his power when he ordered Thursday’s missile strike. Cole says the action was appropriate because Assad violated terms of a 2013 agreement to surrender his chemical weapon stockpile.

“They did turn over thirteen hundred tons of chemical weapons but they clearly didn't turn them all over. The Russians were to be responsible for making sure Syrians carried out that agreement. And again they failed. So the United States in this case had every right to act,” Cole said.

Jacob McCleland was KGOU's News Director from 2015 to 2018.
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