Trump Bombed Iran: A Strike Outside the Law
- Blue State Threads
- Jun 22
- 3 min read
B-2 bombers lifted from Missouri, crossed two continents, and drilled Iranian enrichment halls at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Congress learned about the raid from cable tickers. Article I, Section 8 gives only lawmakers the power to declare war; the War Powers Resolution says presidents must consult in advance and report within forty-eight hours when hostilities start. No such consultation happened. Even if the White House files its paperwork late, the statute caps any unauthorized engagement at sixty days. The clock starts now.
Lawyers floating the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force forget it is venue-specific. Its text targets “Iraq,” not “Iran.” Federal analyses at Brookings and Just Security note that courts, Congress, and even prior administrations have admitted the AUMF cannot justify strikes in another sovereign state.
Internationally, Article 2(4) of the UN Charter bans force that threatens a state’s territorial integrity unless the Security Council approves or self-defense under Article 51 applies. Iran had launched no attack on U.S. forces, so self-defense fails. The strike, therefore, breaches a jus cogens norm—one of those hard cosmic speed limits of international law.
Ignored, too, are Supreme Court guideposts. In the Steel Seizure case, Justice Jackson warned executive power hits “its lowest ebb” when acting against or without Congress. Here, lawmakers were not simply bypassed; their constitutional role was publicly humiliated. Add the War Powers timer, and you have illegality squared—domestic and global.
Fox News Manufactures Consent
Prime-time hosts opened with a banner that read “Decisive Action,” praised “full authority” under the 2002 Iraq AUMF, and stitched in B-roll from missile tests Iran fired six years ago. Legal analysts on the network insisted that an imminent threat justified the raid but never named it. When Senator Chris Murphy pointed to the War Powers Resolution, producers cut to a montage of Iranian crowds chanting “Death to America,” the footage a decade old. Viewers never heard the resolution’s text, never saw constitutional scholars explaining that the commander-in-chief clause does not grant unilateral first strikes. On-air graphics claimed “bipartisan praise,” omitting European condemnation and the bipartisan War Powers measure filed within hours.
The deception fits a pattern. A Fairleigh Dickinson University study found Fox viewers scored lower on current-events quizzes than people who watched no news at all. Less informed audiences are pliable audiences; feed them a heroic narrative, drape it in flags, and legal questions fade into background noise. By framing constitutional objections as partisan whining, Fox cloaks illegality in patriotism and primes its base to greet the next escalation with cheers. That is not journalism, it is straight-up state-sanctioned North Korean-style propaganda for watchers who crave validation more than information. Every lie widens the knowledge gulf between those who read statutes and those who inhale slogans, turning policy debate into a one-way sermon.
Stopping the Slide Toward War
Iran has already fired missiles toward Israel and authorized proxies to strike U.S. assets. Tanker insurers slapped risk fees on Gulf routes. Each tit-for-tat widens the theater until NATO, Russia, or China find themselves compelled to pick sides. Congress still controls the purse. Public pressure once made Obama scrap a Syria strike in 2013; phones and inboxes still work. Demand a recorded vote on any follow-up action. Share Fox segments beside the War Powers statute so viewers see the lie in real time. Tag Raytheon, Northrop, Exxon, and Chevron each time their stock pops; war profiteers hate headlines. Back veteran-run legal groups suing under the War Powers Act and the UN Charter. Courts can freeze funds and choke logistics, which is where wars starve.
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