Independent U.S. Senate candidate Brian Bengs, a retired U.S. Air Force JAG and former U.S. Air Force Academy and NATO School law of armed conflict instructor, issued a statement (June 23, 2025) in response to the recent Iran/US attacks:
“The President’s decision getting the U.S. involved in the “hot” war Israel recently started with Iran implicates a host of legal issues. The Constitution grants Congress sole authority over U.S. involvement in a war, but as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces the President has authority to execute military actions short of actual or anticipated war. The President believes the limited air strikes in Iran do not amount to war because it maximizes his own power, but the choice of war now belongs entirely to Iran rather than Congress.
The missile attacks upon Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military base in the region, indicates that Iran has decided we are at war. I deployed to Al Udeid in 2010 as a legal advisor in the Combined Air Operations Center. It is a huge hub for U.S. military aircraft with approximately 10,000 American personnel. Hopefully their defensive systems prevent any harm to our personnel.
The bottom line is that the Constitution clearly requires a war’s immense costs in blood and treasure be approved by Congress in advance, but that didn’t happen. Like it or not, we are now involved in Israel’s war and they are seemingly pursuing regime change. The President also suggested potential U.S. support for regime change. If the regime collapses, Iran is subject to the “if you break it you buy it” rule and the U.S. would have to address the necessity of occupying and rebuilding a country with twice the population of Iraq. If you wonder what our elected officials think about a repeat of Iraq, so do I.”
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