Support for attack from Congress

Press, 21 October 1987, Page 10

Support for attack from Congress

NZPA-Reater Washington Congress rallied be- : hind President Ranald Reagan after the United States strike against Iranian targets in the Gulf, but the attack fuelled a sharp new debate over limits on his powers to make war. The Pentagon said on Monday that American warships attacked two Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for an Iranian attack last Friday on a Kuwaiti ship flying the American flag. Members of Congress' from both the Democratic and Republican parties expressed support for the attack and praised it as an appropriate “measured response.” The Democrats have majorities in both houses of Congress. "The Ayatollah (Ruhollah Khomeini) asked for this, and he got it,” said Senate Republican leader, Bob Dole. Both Democrats and liberal Republicans voiced new fears the confrontation between Teheran and Washington could erupt into a main

war, and they' demanded President Reagan cnmply with the 197 S War Powers Act. The act could lead to a pull-out of American forces r from the waterway. - ' g . “Those who contend that the strike was necessary must realise that their, 'words are easily construed as a tacit endorsement of war

with Iran. That may well i be what we are backing ourselves into in the Persian Gulf,” said Senator Mark Hatfield, an Oregon Republican who is' sponsoring a bill to try to force President Reagan to : invoke the War Powers Act. •• Critics also said President Reagan’s over all Gulf policy, especially his open-ended operation to provide United States flags and protection to 11 Kuwaiti tankers, had not been carefully thought ' out. ■- ■ ' - 1 ’” " “The raid highlights the essential problem «f this Administration’s policy in the Gulf,” said Congressman Sam Gejdensoh, a Connecticut Democrat.