Lawmarks seek to bar US attack on Iran

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed legislation to prohibit a U.S. attack on Iran without congressional permission. 

The Thursday effort, led by Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican who in 2005 joined calls from many Democrats for a phased U.S. withdrawal from the Iraq war, came as lawmakers voiced concerns the Bush administration might provoke a confrontation with neighboring Iran. The resolution makes crystal clear that no previous resolution passed by Congress  authorizes a U.S. attack on Iran, Jones told reporters, referring to the 2002 vote by Congress authorizing the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The joint resolution would have to be passed by the House and Senate and signed by President George W. Bush to acquire the force of law.

It would waive the congressional authorization only if Iran attacked the United States or its armed forces, or if such an attack was demonstrably  imminent.

So far, Jones' resolution has 11 co-sponsors in the 435-member House.

At the White House, Bush, asked whether there were any U.S. plans to take action against Iran, told Sinclair Broadcasting: I have made it clear that if they're moving weapons inside Iraq that will hurt the cause of democracy and more particularly hurt our soldiers, we'll take care of business there.

We're not going to let them,  he said.  I made that abundantly clear the other day in my speech.

Bush's comment echoed remarks last week when he accused Iran and Syria of allowing the use of their territory for launching attacks inside Iraq.

The White House has since made clear the plan was to disrupt weapons supply lines inside Iraq and that the United States was not preparing for military action against Iran or Syria.

Rep. Martin Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that while he did not trust Iran or its intentions in the Middle East, he also did not trust the White House. Meehan said the resolution on Iran was needed because the Bush administration had  lied so many times  in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.