War And Peace Doesn't Just Happen To Happen

Alan Grayson: "We don’t let children play with guns, or even knives. So why would we let Donald Trump play with drones, missiles and nuclear weapons?"

Mike Pompeo's bullshit about people dancing in the streets after Trump had Iranian leader Qassim Suleimani assassinated apparently didn't include members of the Iraqi Parliament. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iraq's parliament unanimously voted to demand that Prime Minister Adel-Abdul Mahdi, who initiated the resolution himself, end the U.S. military presence in the country. Trump had talked with Mahdi on the phone before the drone attack on Suleimani's convoy at the Baghdad airport, but neglected to let him know about what was about to happen.

Also not dancing in the streets: progressive candidates running for Congress. This is a list of 2020 House candidates, 16 progressive Democrats endorsed by Blue America, along with their opponents. Each of the opponents voted in favor of the NDAA that gives Trump a free hand to start wars on a whim, like the one he’s ginning up against Iran right now. The Blue America-endorsed opponents have all said they would have voted against the NDAA.

• Shaniyat Chowdhury v Gregory Meeks (NY-05)
• Kara Eastman v Donald Bacon (NE-02)
• Kathy Ellis v Jason Smith (MO-08)
• Robert Emmons v Bobby Rush (IL-01)
• Mark Gamba v Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
• Morgan Harper v Joyce Beatty (OH-03)
• Marie Newman v Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
• Liam O’Mara v Ken Calvert (CA-42)
• Michael Owens v David Scott (GA-13)
• Rebecca Parson v Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
• Eva Putzova v Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)
• J.D. Scholten v Steve King (IA-04)
• Mike Siegel v Michael McCaul (TX-10)
• Rachel Ventura v Bill Foster (IL-11)
• Kim Williams v Jim Costa (CA-16)
• Brianna Wu v Stephen Lynch (MA-08)

These Republicans and conservative Democrats should not be reelected and I want to ask you to help support the challengers. When you hear the phrase Bernie wants to send your children to college and Trump wants to send them to war, remember that it isn’t only Trump, it’s also Republican stooges like Michael McCaul, Ken Calvert and Steve King and reactionary Democrats like Tom O’Halleran, Jim Costa and Kurt Schrader. It’s time to take a stand. Eva Putzova sure has. She's running for the Arizona seat occupied by Blue Dog Tom O'Halleran, an "ex"-Republican legislator who voted for Trump's Pentagon budget. Eva has been completely clear that should would have voted NO. "Only Congress has the power to declare war," she told us yesterday, "and responsibility of oversight of and accountability for our use of military force. Yet Congress has increasingly enabled the reckless abuse of the AUMF by turning a blind eye to Executive overreach and by giving the Office of President ever-increasing military budget. As a member of Congress, my opponent has been complacent with the abuse of military power and bears responsibility for countless lives lost. His latest votes, failing to limit Trump's war-making ability and giving him the resources to start a war, are in conflict with the interests of his constituents, this country, and the entire global community."

Kim Williams, a former U.S. diplomat when Obama was president, is also running for a congressional seat held by a reactionary Blue Dog, Jim Costa (CA-16). "Last July," she told us, "Mitch McConnell rebuffed attempts to amend the NDAA by stating that Democrats were politicizing the process. He added that they would not be doing this if there were a Democratic president. But this argument fails to acknowledge a number of political realities. One, Congress should never have written a blank check to any President. Two, Republicans don’t win elections. The last two lost the popular vote by significant margins and neither showed the temperament nor the intellect to make life or death decisions. A functioning democracy should save us from the impulses of a single, flawed individual, and I can not understand how Members of Congress can argue that we should take slow, 'common sense' steps to address issues that cost real American lives like our failing healthcare system, air pollution, and poverty, but then fast track decisions around war. The fact that this President has a history of playing with decoys is even more troubling. Would he have made the same order if he wasn’t facing impeachment? I don’t think so. Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna have now introduced legislation that would block Pentagon funding for any unilateral actions taken by President Trump. If I am elected, they will have my full support."

Virtually all of the candidates we’ve endorsed have been bringing up Ro Khanna as a member of Congress they want to work with to preserve peace. Some say it in very simple terms and others have written long essays already! Last night Dr. Michael Owens, the progressive Democrat challenging Blue Dog warmonger David Scott in the suburbs south and west of Atlanta (GA-13) told me that “House Democrats should not cede any ground to this president when it comes to allowing him to use his judgement and executive branch authority. I would not have voted for the NDAA… mainly because we needed to have the amendments in the bill that Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Barbara Lee put forth. Amendments to block funding for a war with Iran barring congressional approval and the amendment to repeal 2001’s ‘Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists’ (AUMF) could’ve possibly reigned in President Trump’s reckless actions and questionable reasoning for the U.S. drone strike he authorized against the high-ranking Iranian officials.”

Rachel Ventura, the progressive Will County Board member challenging New Dem Bill Foster (IL-11), noted that when she is elected she "will exercise my role as congresswoman to keep any president-- Democrat or Republican-- in check. That is the job of the United States House of Representatives and I will do my job. Just last December, many members of Congress disregarded that job they had to do by passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a blank check that allowed the president to use government funding to conduct the very strike that landed us in our current position. They could have supported Ro Khanna's amendment and any number of other measures that would have limited Trump's ability to continue destabilizing the world. Instead, they gave an unstable president a blank check to destabilize an already unstable region. So to all the members of Congress who voted to pass this funding bill, including my opponent Bill Foster, you can't give an 'unhinged' president a check in December and then criticize the same man for using that check a month later. It is hypocritical to criticize Donald Trump's wrongful assassination of a senior Iranian General after shirking your responsibility to keep the president in check. I will not be a part of the caucus that simply goes along to get along. I will be joining the courageous members of Congress in the progressive caucus who had the foresight to predict this nightmare."

Rachel's neighbor in Chicagoland-- they sometimes hold joint events-- Robert Emmons, who’s taking on Bobby Rush, put it much more succinctly: "War will cost us trillions of dollars. War will end thousands of lives. Reparations, ending everyday gun violence, universal pre-k, Medicare for All, universal transportation, and a Green New Deal will save lives. I choose pro-peace." Pretty straight to the point. And Marie Newman, a third Chicagoland progressive taking on a reactionary pro-war Dem (Dan Lipinski) told us "My opponent voted for the NDAA and that says it all. He believes this president should have full power to start wars whenever he wishes."

Rebecca Parson, the Democratic Socialist challenging northwest Washington New Dem Derek Kilmer, was even more succinct! "Derek Kilmer voted for Trump’s war budget and now Trump is stoking war with Iran. We need principled progressives in Congress, not corporate tools of the war machine."

One state down, Mark Gamba, the progressive mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon, is running for the congressional seat held by Blue Dog war-monger Kurt Schrader, who, needless to say, voted for the NDAA a couple of weeks ago. Mark told me today that "We go to war to make rich people richer. We do it both to secure access to other countries resources for our corporations and simply to enrich the military industrial complex. We allow our young people to be maimed, psychologically ravaged or be killed in order to enrich Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and dozens of others. Never mind the fact that we kill millions of innocent civilians in other countries in the process. I believe in a strong national defense. But we were already spending more than the next 10 largest militaries in the world combined before the terrible vote by 188 house Democrats to increase it. Yet the only real threat we face goes completely unaddressed, simply because no defense contractor will make billions fighting climate change. No big surprise that Kurt Schrader was one of the Dems that took that bad vote. It’s long past time to replace corporate dems with people who are not beholden the Military Industrial Complex and who actually give a damn about our young people. It’s time to spend this kind of money solving the actual threat of climate change rather than the Trumped up threats from other countries. It may also be high time to preemptively launch antiwar protests. I’ll see you on the streets."

Liam O’Mara is the progressive running for the Riverside County congressional seat that lockstep Trump toadie Ken Calvert occupies. There are few districts in California where the contrast between the two candidates is as great. Yesterday, Liam, a history professor, told us that "Trump just made another massive blunder in the Middle East-- another in a long line of blunders that we keep making there. We violated Iraqi sovereignty, broke international law, committed an act of war against Iran, and may also have violated U.S. law-- and for what? To keep feeding the war machine, to get more troops sent overseas and keep up the endless waste of taxpayer dollars and lives? I think that the U.S. deserves better from its leaders. I think that it deserves investment in its citizens, in their quality of life, not in constant wars for oil and defense-contractor dollars. We should be building houses and hospitals, roads and bridges, factories and farms… not bombing ten countries, wasting trillions on unwinnable wars, and assassinating foreign leaders. It’s time to think about what kind of country we want-- a moral exemplar, devoted to the rule of law, or a rogue state, concerned only for power and greed. I know where I stand on that, and where Ken Calvert stands."





Yesterday, Pelosi sent out this letter to all the Democrats in Congress, announcing that the House would vote on a war powers resolution to prevent Trump from going to war with Iran on a whim. Note it is being carried for her by a conservative Democrat, Elissa Slotkin, rather than by one of the progressives who would be a natural-- like Barbara Lee or Ro Khanna. I suppose Pelosi thinks that will help her lock up votes on the right for the Democratic Party more easily.

Dear Democratic Colleague,

Last week, the Trump Administration conducted a provocative and disproportionate military airstrike targeting high-level Iranian military officials. This action endangered our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.

As Members of Congress, our first responsibility is to keep the American people safe. For this reason, we are concerned that the Administration took this action without the consultation of Congress and without respect for Congress’s war powers granted to it by the Constitution.

This week, the House will introduce and vote on a War Powers Resolution to limit the President’s military actions regarding Iran. This resolution is similar to the resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine in the Senate. It reasserts Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days.

The House Resolution will be led by Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin.  Congresswoman Slotkin is a former CIA and Department of Defense analyst specializing in Shia militias. She served multiple tours in the region under both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

I greatly appreciate the solemnity with which all of our Members are working to honor our responsibility to protect American lives and values.

Thank you for your patriotic leadership during this difficult time.