U.S. LAWMAKERS SUPPORT GULF ACTION
  American lawmakers rallied behind
  President Reagan for the U.S. strike against Iranian targets in
  the Gulf but the attack fueled a sharp new White House-Congress
  debate over limits on his powers to make war.
      The Pentagon announced on Monday that U.S. warships
  destroyed a non-producing oil platform used for monitoring Gulf
  ship traffic and military operations, and also raided a second
  Iranian oil rig in retaliation for an earlier Iranian attack on
  a Kuwaiti ship flying the American flag.
      Many Democrats, who control Congress, and Republicans
  expressed support for the attack and praised it as an
  appropriate "measured response."
      But Democrats and liberal Republicans voiced new fears that
  the growing confrontation between Tehran and the United States
  could erupt into a major war, and demanded that Reagan comply
  with the 1973 War Powers Act, which could lead to a pullout of
  American forces from the waterway.
      "Those who contend the strike was necessary must realize
  their words are easily construed as a tacit endorsement of war
  with Iran," said Sen Mark Hatfield of Oregon, a Republican.
  

