Whiteman Air Force Base and Missouri senators play role in potential war | Opinion

When — if — the United States goes to war against Iran, the first blow may well come from Missouri.

Whiteman Air Force base, about an hour southeast of Kansas City, is home to the nation’s B-2 bomber fleet. That’s the plane capable of carrying America’s 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs that would be used in any attack against Iran’s underground nuclear facilities. And it is air crews based at Whiteman who would be risking their lives to accomplish the mission.

That’s a big responsibility.

So is the burden of actually sending the B-2 bomber crews into action.

President Donald Trump has spent the last few days in “maybe-he-will-maybe-he-won’t mode,” making a public show of deciding whether or not he will thrust America into the war that Israel started against the Islamic regime in Iran.

“I may do it. I may not do it,” the president told reporters on Wednesday. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

The Hamlet routine seems a bit cavalier, given the life-or-death stakes.

More important: The decision does not fall to Trump alone.

Yes, he is the commander in chief of America’s armed forces. But — the Constitution is pretty clear about this — it is up to Congress, not the president, to decide when America declares war. It’s right there, in Article I, Section 8. You can look it up.

Which means Congress ought to speak up before Trump unilaterally decides to take America into a battle. Because the matter lands so squarely in their backyard, it also means that Missouri members of Congress have an added duty.

Will they?

Schmitt, Hawley on war

Sen. Eric Schmitt has made clear he is on board with whatever Trump decides. “I trust President Trump on this to make the right decision,” he said Thursday on Fox News.

Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri’s other MAGA senator, is more skeptical.

“I don’t want us fighting a war,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju this week. “I don’t want another Mideast war … I’m a little concerned about our sudden military buildup in the region.”

That’s a big statement. He’s right.

Here’s the thing: If Hawley truly believes what he says — that he would rather leave the warmaking to Israel and have the United States not get into the fighting — then he can do something about it. He is a notable member of a coequal branch of government, after all.

Sen. Tim Kaine — the Virginia Democrat who grew up in Overland Park — has introduced a resolution that would limit American involvement in Iran without congressional authorization.

Such a decision should be made “following a full briefing to Congress and the American public of the issues at stake, a public debate in Congress, and a congressional vote as contemplated by the Constitution,” says the draft resolution.

It’s the most Constitutional way of resolving the issue. Hawley should sign on.

Pride, vulnerability on the home front

Whiteman, for what it’s worth, has experience being on the tip of the American spear. Bombers from the base flew round-trip missions from Missouri to Afghanistan and back again during the early days of the War on Terror.

I’m old enough to remember that being a source of pride for the folks in nearby Knob Noster, Missouri.

But it is also a source of vulnerability.

Iran, a longtime sponsor of terrorism, doesn’t always settle its arguments on the battlefield. So Whiteman — along with other American military bases — this week tightened security.

Just in case.

Polls show Americans oppose going to war with Iran by a wide margin. Like Hawley, they’re tired of watching American troops fight and die in the Middle East. We all remember the broken promises of quick and easy victories.

The president? He said Thursday he’ll make a decision “within two weeks.”

If that’s long enough for Trump to contemplate, it’s long enough for Congress to do its duty. Hawley can do more than say he doesn’t want another Middle East war. He can take action.

This story was originally published June 21, 2025 at 5:06 AM.