As we wake this morning, the U.S. government’s illegal, unconstitutional, and unprovoked bombing of Iran continues unabated. Hundreds of Iranian’s are already dead, including more than 150 schoolchildren who were killed in the bombing of a girl’s school on day one.
This brutal, senseless war of choice has been carried out since Saturday under orders from U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump is now telling reporters that the U.S. may continue the war for four or five weeks, or longer, adding that he is prepared to go “far longer than that.” The president is also saying that he will not rule out putting U.S. military troops “on the ground” in Iran if he so decides.
Trump also wrote on his social media account that the U.S. could continue the war “forever” with its current supply of munitions. Setting aside the hyperbole, this is telling of the man’s state of mind – and direction.
The war is widening today, even as we type this alert, involving at least nine countries, oil tankers, embassies, U.S. industries in the Middle East and more as Iran retaliates in the face of unrelenting bombing raids and Trump’s warning that this is just the beginning and that worse is yet to come.
We in the U.S. have a special responsibility to act when war is being carried out in our name. And, as peace advocates, we have the dual task of taking action while modeling the nonviolence we seek.
Here is an immediate, time-critical action, followed by a few ideas for the future.
TODAY:
Call your Senators and Representative at (202) 224-3121. Let them know it is their constitutional duty to vote in favor of the War Powers Resolution directing the President to “terminate the use of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran or any part of the Iranian government or military unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force (from Congress) for such purpose has been enacted.”
Concurrent resolutions are currently slated to be voted on tomorrow (Wednesday). In the Senate, you are asking them to support the Kain-Paul War Powers resolution, which is S.J.Res 104. In the House, it is the Massie-Khanna War Powers resolution, which is H.Con.Res 38.
As you likely know, Trump preemptively abandoned diplomacy and took us to war without securing congressional authority to do so, which is required by the U.S. Constitution, article 1, section 8 and the 1973 War Powers Act.
For members of Congress who might be hesitant to vote yes, you can remind them that it is their constitutional duty to hold the President accountable in this matter. Recent polls show that only 25% of the public approves this war against Iran, and so it is a broad swath of their constituents, including you, who are demanding support for the War Powers resolutions. Tell them you want to be kept informed of their actions.
For members of Congress whom you know already support the War Powers resolutions, take this opportunity to thank them for their vote tomorrow. Additionally, be sure to ask them to withhold funding for the war and take other actions to end it. You might also ask your members of Congress to speak out clearly against the war, including by writing opinion pieces in prominent newspapers and news outlets. Tell them you want to be kept informed of their actions.
ONGOING:
Iranian death tolls are rising, U.S. deaths and others have been confirmed, and Trump says there will be more. One need not be a supporter of the current regime in Iran to understand the illegality, and broad implications, of this war and take action to stop it.
An expanding war may engulf the Middle East in flames and promote further consolidation of autocratic power and militarization of countries, including Iran, as a result. Bombing has not historically – and does not now – lead to democracy. Trump’s justifications for war change hourly, and none of them to date have been correct on the facts.
The President’s initial justifications for abandoning ongoing diplomatic talks and undertaking the sudden bombing of multiple sites across the entire country of Iran centered on allegations that the Iranian government had ramped up its uranium enrichment operations to the point that a nuclear weapon was now in the country’s immediate, near term grasp. This was simply not born out by the facts. Credible, published indications were that Iran had not been enriching uranium recently to levels that could service a civilian nuclear power program let alone enriching to higher, weapons-grade levels.
What is incontrovertibly true is that the two attacking countries, the United States and Israel, do possess nuclear weapons while Iran does not.
Equally true is that the two attacking countries have been the ones throwing up roadblocks at the United Nations to the formation of a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, which could provide a region-wide framework for a more equitable and peaceful non-nuclear future.
Another genuine, long term solution that has garnered far too little media attention is the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which has entered into force and become part of international law despite vociferous opposition by the United States in particular.
In short, we the people must take action to end this war now, and influence a positive future.
Effective resistance to war means public resistance; principled, creative and nonviolent. Look for demonstrations near you. Seek out ways to connect the dots in your activism as the U.S. wages violence domestically and war internationally.
Use your talents in service of peace. Are you artistic? Do you write well? Can you pen op-eds, letters to the editor, letters to Congress? Do you speak in public? Or, talk in groups of friends? Do you belong to a group where this can be discussed and actions can be planned?
If you answered yes to at least one of the above, or think of other ideas entirely, you can be an effective part of ending this war. Silence is assent. Do not assent.
Tri-Valley CAREs will continue its activism to end this war – and to move our country and world to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Join us!