In the Georgia political world, reaction to U.S. military attacks against three nuclear sites in Iran fell mostly, but not entirely, along party lines.
President Donald Trump announced the strikes Saturday night, calling them “a spectacular military success.”
The intervention into the war between Iran and Israel stoked fear of reprisal against U.S. military bases in the Middle East or terrorist attacks at home, but Trump and his allies said the strikes will prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Iran launched a retaliatory missile attack on a U.S. base in Qatar. Initial reports said U.S. air defenses intercepted the missiles and no casualties were reported.
Gov. Brian Kemp praised the U.S. bombings in an online post.
“America can never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Thank you to President Trump, our service members and intelligence personnel, and administration officials who conducted this successful operation.”
Kemp later added that he and other governors around the country are in communication with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to discuss threats of retaliation.
“We are coordinating with law enforcement on all levels as we closely monitor any possible threats,” Kemp said.
In March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before a congressional committee that the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
Another U.S. assessment found that Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon and that, if they started making one, it would take them up to three years to complete it, according to CNN.
Most of Georgia’s Republican representatives in Congress followed the same formula: thanking Trump, thanking the troops and stating that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.
The exception was Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome. In a series of posts, Greene characterized the attacks as representing a return to the GOP’s neoconservative wing and its support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and away from Trump’s campaign promises of avoiding expensive and deadly foreign entanglements.
“Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war,” Greene said. “There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first. Israel is a nuclear armed nation. This is not our fight. Peace is the answer.”
Greene’s take puts her at odds with the majority of her party, said University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock.
“She’s maybe still stuck on that page where Trump supporters and Trump himself were not in favor of regime change, certainly, and wanting to concentrate on making America great again, not worrying about what’s happening in the rest of the world,” he said. “So she is still in that mode, it sounds like, while Trump has moved on, and for most Republicans, if Trump moves on, they move on with him.”
Bullock said Greene’s anti-war statements are not likely to hurt her in the ruby red northwest Georgia district or damage her relationship with Trump, but if the U.S. does become engaged in a major war, Georgia Republicans could have to answer for their support.
“A year from now, as we’re looking at the 2026 election, if the U.S. is an active participant – certainly if we have troops on the ground who are in harm’s way – that does make this an issue that Republicans are going to have to defend themselves on, where up until this point, they’ve been pretty consistent in indicating that they would not want to see the U.S. become involved in somebody else’s war,” Bullock said
The Georgia House of Representatives issued a resolution Monday praising Trump, Israel and the strikes in Iran, as well as honoring Georgians who have died in conflicts in the Middle East. A total of 100 lawmakers signed the resolution, including nearly all Republicans and one Democrat, state Rep. Esther Panitch of Sandy Springs.
Georgia Democrats characterized the attacks as reckless and argued Trump should have sought congressional approval before approving them.
The Constitution grants Congress the authority to declare war, but presidents from both parties have deployed troops without formal declarations of war.
Sen. Raphael Warnock invoked the specter of the Iraq War.
“President Trump, who has said he ‘might or might not’ bomb Iran and has indicated this week that he disagrees with the assessment of his own national intelligence advisers, has now entered another Middle East conflict,” Warnock said. “He has not sought congressional approval and has not sufficiently explained why this operation was necessary right now. With thousands of American troops at risk for potential retaliation, this is not ‘the art of the deal.’ This is war. And this is not the first time the American people have been told that it will end quickly.”
Rep. Esther Panitch. Ross Williams/Georgia RecorderSen. Jon Ossoff, who is up for re-election next year, was measured in his response, which was only two sentences.
“I pray for the safety of U.S. military servicemembers deployed around the world and express my admiration for their courage and professionalism,” Ossoff said in a statement following the strikes. “Congress must be promptly and fully briefed on tonight’s operation and consulted on the Administration’s strategy.”
Panitch, the state’s only currently serving Jewish legislator and a staunch supporter of Israel, celebrated the bombings on social media, arguing that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a danger to the Jewish state.
“When someone tells you they want you dead, have acted on it over the last 40 years, and have the ingredients to do it, you don’t wait until the warhead has been launched to protect yourself,” she said in a post.
