Texas congressmen discuss whether the U.S. should help Israel bomb Iran
As Israel and Iran continue to exchange air strikes and missile attacks, Israel's stated goal since the hostilities began earlier this month has been wipe out Iran's nuclear program.
Israel has been successful in assassinating Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists and damaging some of Iran's nuclear infrastructure. However, it likely cannot eradicate the nuclear program without destroying Iran's Fordo nuclear facility, housed in a bunker deep under a mountain.
The Israel Defense Force does not have the capability to destroy Fordo through airstrikes, but the U.S. does, in the form of a 30,000-pound bomb called the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, known as a MOP. The bomb was designed for targets like Fordo, with the ability to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding.
The MOP is so big that Israel's air force does not have a plane large enough to carry it; A B-2 bomber from the U.S. Air Force, crewed by Americans, would be needed.
The White House has said that President Trump agrees that the Fordo nuclear site should be disabled, and that Mr. Trump will make a decision within two weeks on whether authorize military action. Diplomatic negotiations are still playing out, as well.
In the meantime, the debate over whether the U.S. should get involved has come to the forefront of the political discussion.
North Texas Congressmen weigh in
In this week's Eye On Politics, Jack Fink spoke with two members of Congress from Texas about the issue.
Rep. Craig Goldman, a Republican from Fort Worth, said Iran needs to be prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"President Trump has made it very clear, and made it clear from day one, that Iran should not have the ability and capability to have a nuclear weapon. Obviously, the intelligence got to be enough to where not only was the United States agreeable to Israeli making the strikes, Israel decided to make those strikes because of the fear that Iran was getting close enough to have a nuclear weapons. And we all know that if Iran received a nuclear weapon, the first target would have been Israel, and the second target would have been the United States," Goldman said.
The decision to help Israel bomb Iran's nuclear facility is up to the president, Goldman said, and that he would support it if it is what Mr. Trump decides to do.
"The leaders of Iran have said that they want to wipe out of the face of the Earth Israel, and they want to kill Americans. They are I mean, they are an enemy. And the best we can do is to if we can't take out an enemy, it's to limit their abilities to take out Israel or hurt Americans," he said.
Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat from Austin, agreed that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, but said the U.S. does not need to go to war to accomplish it.
"I've been a supporter of what President Obama did, which was used diplomacy to secure a nuclear weapon deal. Unfortunately, President Donald Trump ripped that deal to shreds. Iran started developing more nuclear capacity. And now we're in this very dangerous situation, not just for people in Israel and in Iran, but frankly for people around the world and for American troops," Casar said.
Casar said he is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan resolution which says that Mr. Trump cannot go to war without the approval of Congress. The U.S. Constitution says that only Congress can declare war.
"I don't think that it's just as simple, no matter how simple we'd like for it to be, for us to just stop Iran from having nuclear weapon capabilities. I don't think it's just as simple as Donald Trump can press a button and fix everything. It's just as likely that it puts our American women and men in harm's way for years or potentially a generation to come," Casar said. "I would strongly encourage that we not go to war willy-nilly anymore in this country and that ... we go through diplomatic paths to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon rather than allowing Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to drag the United States into war for him."
