Grassley, Ernst, Hinson, Nunn, Feenstra, and Miller-Meeks are complicit with Trump War Crimes in Iran
As are every Republican in Congress who doesn't stop the madman Trump...
Below is the headline and first paragraph of an April 9 New York Times column:
Below is another estimate of the damage. All text in italics is a quote from the New York Times column:
The scale of devastation is likely far greater than The Times’s analysis. The Iranian Red Crescent Society, the country’s primary humanitarian relief organization, said on April 2 that at least 763 schools and 316 health care facilities had been damaged or destroyed in the war.
Targeting schools and hospitals is a war crime according to international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
Remember the first strike?
By far the deadliest strike on civilians came on Feb. 28, the first day of the war, when the Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School was bombed in the southern Iranian town of Minab. The strike killed at least 175 people, most of them children, according to Iranian health officials.
How quickly the atrocities fade from our collective memories. Was there a call for investigations? How did congressional Republicans respond? Did they respond?
I don’t remember. Do you?
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other American officials have insisted that the U.S. military is acting with precision.
Given the civilian devastation, consider it a confession of war crimes.
Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age.”
Consider that a confession of the willingness to commit war crimes.
Here’s another confession:
The bombs still fall, but peace talks are underway today. Let’s hope and pray they succeed.
Regardless, the evidence of war crimes is extensive, and there should be prosecutions. A great many of them.
Remember when we were the good guys? Or at least thought we were?
(Note: the Pentagon, under Pete Hegseth, is trying to redefine what war crimes are to allow the atrocities to continue. They are using a new concept they call “dual use,” where infrastructure that both civilians AND the military use is considered fair game, e.g., bridges, water desalination plants. Since military and civilian infrastructure have considerable overlap, virtually the entire country is a target. Listening to Sean Hannity on WHO radio the other night, he used the “dual use” concept to justify war crimes. We can’t let this redefinition take hold. Politico has the story here.)
At the Progress Iowa, End Citizens United event on Wednesday night, I asked both Democratic senate primary candidates, Josh Turek and Zach Wahls, if war crimes have already happened in Iran, or were to happen, would Iowa’s Republicans in Congress be complicit?
I specifically mentioned Ashley Hinson as one of them will face her in the general election.
Here is Turek’s response on TikTok.
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Here is Wahls’ response.
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For those who don’t use TikTok, both said yes. If war crimes have been committed, or will be committed, our Republican representatives in Congress are, or will be, complicit.
Given the proof offered in the New York Times and elsewhere, they are complicit and must be held accountable.
So what do we do now? First, we need to continue and increase our efforts to defeat all Republicans on the ballot this fall.
We also need to put pressure on Grassley, Ernst, Hinson, Feenstra, Nunn, and Miller-Meeks at every campaign stop, demanding that the war in Iran stop and that Trump be driven from office.
They need to be hammered with questions about Iran and the war crimes that have been committed.
All democratic candidates, like Turek and Wahls above, should challenge their Republican opponents on the issue. Make them squirm.
And I encourage the Iowa media, and media everywhere, to ask the tough questions of congressional Republicans.
Perhaps start with, “how can you sleep at night knowing you are complicit with the commission of war crimes?”
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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
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Questions about war crimes should be as blunt and intense as Republicans have been in committing them. Robert Leonard models how to do it.
Throw them all out!