Joaquin Castro Questions Witness About Authorizing Use Of Military Against Iran's Nuclear Program

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At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) spoke about handling Iran.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Perry. I now recognize for five minutes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Castro.

00:06Thank you, Chairman. Thank you all for your testimony today.

00:10Ms. Stroll, in your testimony, you recommend that the Congress, quote,

00:14strengthen the administration's hand by beginning the process to conditionally authorize the use of military force

00:20against Iran's nuclear program if the regime proves unwilling to take sufficient steps to ensure that it will not acquire nuclear weapons.

00:28And I guess that recommendation gives me some concern based on history.

00:34This was the same argument made to justify voting for the Iraq War in 2002.

00:40In debates in the Congress, they argued that a show of resolve by Congress by preemptively authorizing the use of military force against Iraq

00:47would strengthen the Bush administration's hand in negotiations and force Saddam Hussein to come to the table.

00:53What ensued with the Iraq War was one of the biggest mistakes that our country has made in decades.

00:59And I don't think any of us, or most of us at least, want to repeat that same mistake.

01:04And I'm concerned with everything going on now that we could with Iran.

01:09The American people are not looking to get into another protracted war in the Middle East.

01:13I think most folks would agree with that.

01:15I'm also skeptical that the votes are there for such a war.

01:20Skeptical that the votes are there.

01:23In February 2020, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate voted to end hostilities with Iran after the strike on Soleimani.

01:31During the congressional debates on the repeal of the 2002 Iraq AUMF,

01:35some Republicans attempted to ensure that the law could still be used to strike Iranian-backed proxies.

01:40In response, a bipartisan majority in the Senate, including with the crucial support of now Vice President J.D. Vance,

01:47voted 60 to 36 to stop those efforts.

01:51And so my question is, would you say that we should strengthen the administration's negotiating hand

01:55by preemptively authorizing the use of military force against Iran?

01:59Do you trust Donald Trump and his administration with that responsibility at this time?

02:05Thank you so much for this question, and I think it's a very important point.

02:09So the words I chose were begin the process to conditionally authorize,

02:14and I think those two clauses are important in the point I'm making.

02:17One is begin the process.

02:19That is because I don't think that this decision should be left in the hands of any president

02:23without advice and consent and consultation with Congress.

02:27And conditionally, because I'm not recommending preemptive authorization,

02:31I am recommending that by members of Congress having debate about the conditions and circumstances

02:39under which it would approve use of military force,

02:42it will send a signal of bipartisan consensus and commitment

02:46that that credible military option remains on the table should negotiations fail.

02:52And I want to be very clear that my recommendation associated with Mr. Rule

02:56is that we should pursue negotiations first,

02:58because no military action will eliminate the knowledge and the entire program overnight.

03:05And so I guess what would the, per your recommendation, what would that trigger be?

03:11When do you start down that road?

03:12First, I think the intelligence community should be providing regular updates to members of Congress

03:20in a closed and classified atmosphere on exactly what the steps are

03:24that the intelligence community understands Iran to be taking.

03:28And secondly, I think there should be consultations about exactly what is being contemplated

03:34when we talk about military strikes on Iran.

03:36Would you require that we go through a JCPOA-type negotiation

03:40before going down that road?

03:44I think that testing the diplomatic waters with the regime,

03:50either in a multilateral context,

03:52in the indirect negotiations that appear to be contemplated at this moment,

03:56either way, a negotiated settlement is by far easier to verify in implementation

04:05and blocking Iran's pathways to a nuclear weapon than military force,

04:09which on the other side, we don't know what regime decision-making would be,

04:13we don't know what Iranian decision-making would be,

04:15and we don't know what the war looks like on the other side of that.

04:19And this is why I think there's such serious issues that merit congressional input.

04:25And also for the other witnesses, just for the record, as we're having this discussion,

04:30do you believe that we should do a preemptive AUMF?

04:33I associate myself with Ms. Stroll's comments.

04:38We should have a thoughtful process in which Congress plays its rightful role as an institution,

04:45but the Iranians must understand that endless negotiations aren't the only strategy of the United States.

04:53Let me check in with you.

04:55Yes, and I agree with Ms. Stroll and Mr. Ruhl.

04:59I yield back.

05:00Thank you, Mr. Castro.

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