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November 3, 2007 (LPAC)--In the past ten days, two Democratic members of the Senate have introduced resolutions against Cheney's drive for war on Iran. On Oct. 25, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced a Senate resolution that simply declares, "Any offensive military action taken by the United States against Iran must be explicitly approved by Congress before such action may be initiated." In a statement on the resolution's introduction, Durbin stated that "To do otherwise, is not only reckless but clearly un-Constitutional." Durbin's resolution, so far, has nine co-sponsors, Akaka (HI), Byrd (WV), Dodd (CN), Sanders (VT), Whitehouse (RI), Bingaman (NM), Clinton (NY), Murray (WA) and Stabenow (MI).

Durbin's colleague from Illinois, Senator Barak Obama, followed with an even stronger joint resolution on Nov. 2. Obama's resolution is designed to outflank any argument by the White House that existing legislation, such as the 2002 Iraq war authorization, or the more recent Kyl-Lieberman amendment that declared that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is a supporter of terrorism, could be used to justify military action against Iran. It states that neither those two statutes, nor related executive orders that it specifies "shall be construed to authorize, encourage, or in any way address the use of Armed Forces of the United States against Iran."