Biden Justifies U.S. Strike on Syria to His Democratic Critics
- He cites constitutional authority to House, Senate leaders
- Some Democratic lawmakers questioned strike’s justification
President Joe Biden
Photographer: Samuel Corum/The New York Times/Bloomberg
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President Joe Biden provided an official explanation of the airstrike that targeted Iranian-backed fighters in eastern Syria, saying he was using his authority to deter attacks on U.S. and allied personnel in Iraq.
Biden’s letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate, follows criticism by some Democrats of the circumstances of his first overt use of military force, about five weeks after taking office. Like a long line of his predecessors, Biden said he was informing Congress “consistent with” the War Powers Act, without acknowledging that he was required to do so.