Congress has yet to address the lingering concerns many Americans have about unchallenged executive branch power to wage war and deploy American bombs on foreign soil, as the Trumpublican regime did in early April when our missiles flew in Syria.

Many of us were horrified by the chemical attack in Syria and images of those injured and killed. Who would not be moved by photos of children and babies suffering the ravages of war in all of its forms? But those who called for congressional engagement before our bombs rained down on any other nation have been attacked, as somehow unpatriotic or worse. Are we prepared to let our decisions to wage war be made only in private and without any ability for the American people to weigh in?

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) is right to be raising the alarm, as the Trump administration perpetuates and accelerates yet another misguided regime change. In Syria, we are once again working to dismantle a Middle Eastern state led by a brutal dictator, and again, we have no long-term political strategy, and terrorists are positioned to fill the vacuum.

The images out of Syria have been horrific for some time now, and we abhor the use of chemical weapons. We can probably find common ground around protecting children and their innocence, but are we also determined to find that common ground upon which we stand for international law, that calls war criminals to account without more bombing and more dead babies, children, mothers, fathers and elders?

Before we bomb even one more foreign country with our impressive array of lethal weapons, we must determine if we really are a civilized nation that believes in the rule of law. If our answer is yes, then we must demand that Congress do its job, that lawmakers in both political parties rise to their responsibilities to the American people, to abide by the laws of this nation and, as a powerful force in the world, by international law. And we must go one step beyond that, by supporting congressional members from either party who ask the toughest of questions and demand accountability. READ MORE