The Congress Blog

Andrea Shalal-Esa
Reuters
Monday October 15, 2007

President George W. Bush must seek congressional approval before taking any military action in Iran, unless Tehran attacks the United States first, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

“We don’t believe that any authorities that the president has would give him the ability to go in without an act of Congress,” Pelosi told ABC’s “This Week” program.

“Any president, if we are attacked, if our country is attacked has — even under the War Powers Act — very strong powers to go after that country. But short of that, he must come to the Congress,” said the top Democrat in the House of Representatives.

Pelosi said Bush had not requested any congressional authority to take military action in Iran, despite growing U.S. concern over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its support for militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza.

Republican presidential candidates last week said it may be necessary to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent it from developing a bomb, but they were cautious about a preemptive strike, saying Congress should be consulted first.

Iran denies trying to build a nuclear weapon, but the United States, France, Britain and other countries fear Iran’s stated pursuit of nuclear-generated electricity is a precursor to learning how to build atom bombs.

Full article here.