Sen. Elissa Slotkin

WASHINGTON D.C. — In the wake of U.S. strikes on Iran that began early Saturday morning, Michigan political leaders are divided, largely along party lines.

While the majority of Republicans support Operation Epic Fury as a necessary response to imminent threats posed by Iran, Democratic lawmakers view the strikes as war without congressional approval.

“Matters of war must be debated before the American people,” Senator Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, said in a March 3 statement. “This is especially important given the last two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

In a Feb. 28 statement, Slotkin said as a former CIA officer who served three tours in Iraq, she has no love lost for the Iranian government.

“They’re a state sponsor of terror, responsible for the deaths of Americans,” she wrote, adding she saw it up close in Iraq and elsewhere.

“But issues of war and peace should be treated with the utmost consequence,” Slotkin wrote. “And President Trump hasn’t made his case to the American people. He hasn’t laid out the goals or the imminent threat posed by Iran that justifies risking a wider regional war. And he hasn’t followed the Constitution and brought this issue before Congress before committing our nation to war.”

Democratic Senator Gary Peters, D-Pontian, said “The American people don’t want to send their sons and daughters to another unjustified forever war across the world.”

Peters went on to say the administration must immediately brief Congress on these strikes and its next steps, end goal, and strategy to ensure this protects, not weakens, our homeland security.

On the other side of the isle, Republican Rep Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, published a social media statement Saturday.

“The Iranian regime’s decades of sponsoring terror, costing American service members and innocent lives, cannot go unanswered,” Bergman wrote. “Peace comes through strength, and weakness only emboldens our enemies. The threats against the United States and our allies must be confronted with resolve.”

Bergman, a retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant general, said as a veteran, he knows the cost of war.

“No one understands that burden more than the men and women who have worn the uniform,” he wrote. “But we also understand that America – and the freedoms we defend – are worth standing up for. Join me in praying for our troops, our President, and the Iranian people. God Bless America.”