The day before President Donald Trump fired controversial Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and chose Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as his choice to replace her, Mullin explained his vote against curbing the war powers of Trump as the U.S. joins Israel in attacking Iran — an attack for which Trump did not seek congressional approval.
Proclaiming he would not vote to “hamstring President Trump” when it came to Iran, Mullin cited the bombing numbers in 2016 during the last full year of President Barack Obama’s second term, when the U.S. dropped, as Mullin writes, “26,000 bombs in at least 7 countries.” Mullin asserts that the Obama administration executed this bombing “without a word from Congress.”
UPDATE: War Powers Resolution vote is scheduled at 4pm ET today. Barack Obama dropped 26,000 bombs in at least 7 countries in 2016 without a word from Congress. I won’t hamstring President Trump. Unlike many before him, @POTUS is the ‘peace through strength’ President. He…
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) March 4, 2026
Mullin’s bombing figures correspond with those cited in a 2017 report by the Council on Foreign Affairs, which says that “in President Obama’s last year in office, the United States dropped 26,172 bombs in seven countries” with the majority (24,287) dropped in Iraq and Syria. Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Afghanistan were also targets.
Most of the bombing occurred as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the counter-Islamic State (ISIS) campaign waged by the U.S. and a group of Western and Mideast allies. The OIR saw approximately 70% of the bombings executed by the U.S., 20% by the UK, and 10% being carried out by allied nations including France, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
The intensity of the bombing campaign during Obama’s presidency — and its continuation early in Trump’s first term — is largely credited with the “territorial defeat” of ISIS, which Trump announced in 2019.
As Mullin implies, the OIR — which continues in a consolidated form — operated without an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) from Congress, which made question its legality despite the breadth of the participating coalition of nations. [NOTE: ISIS did not officially control a recognized nation-state against which war could be declared, but were instead a “non-state armed group.”]
Mullin’s further implication, however, that the OIR operated “without a word from Congress” is less accurate than the data he shares on the number of bombings.
Indeed, since its initiation in 2014 Operation Inherent Resolve — which is ongoing — has been subject to quarterly reports by the Lead Inspector General (IG) that are submitted to Congress, which must approve funding for the operation.