Washington DC—In the shadow of the U.S. Capitol hundreds of Veterans rallied on Veterans Day demanding the president and defense secretary end its war against Iran and restore benefits to Veterans for their service in the military. The March For Democracy rally was organized by Veterans Against Fascism, among others, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that advocates on behalf of Veterans.
Several members of the House yet to be sworn in with the incoming 120th Congress, who were also Veterans, spoke along side the wartime Veterans. Among them was Democratic Representative-elect Fred Wellman, MO-2, who overcame a red tide of dominance in Missouri to win his district atop a blue tsunami of Democratic victories.
“We are in a dangerous place when we are allowing people like Pete Hegseth to turn the Department of Defense U.S. Military into a place for political games. And where they hire people in the Secretary of Defense office to tweet all day to attack members of Congress and the political class because they don’t like things they’re saying.”
Rep. Wellman also condemned the action by the president to ignore the law requiring Congressional approval for war. “The War Powers Act is not a 60-day conduct-a-war coupon,” he said.
The Veterans Day rally was held one day after Republican Rep. Thomas Massie filed eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. His articles of impeachment were voted down and sent back to committee to die. Representatives-elect joined with the Veterans to denounce the Iran War as illegal and ill-conceived because Congress did not approve it under the War Powers Act of 1973. The law was passed that year as a result of the Vietnam War, an undeclared War which dragged on for 19 years. It started as an advisory group but by the early 1960s had dragged in thousands more U.S. troops and morphed into a full-scale military operation, involving millions of U.S. troops.
Karen Degraphenenreid, a former officer and Veteran of the U.S. Air Force, who is now an organizer with FreeDC, condemned the National Guard troop presence in Washington DC. “For more than a year, the Trump administration’s so-called DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force has brought militarization and intimidation in violation of civil liberties into our communities. We cannot normalize this.”
While she spoke many cheered in support of her criticism of National Guard troops on DC Streets. She pointed out that the governors of the States were the commanders of the States National Guard units and as such they had the authority to remove their troops from Washington DC. “To Governor-Elect Keisha Bottoms, and the newly elected governors of Iowa, Alaska, Texas, and Nevada, on day one, bring your troops home.”
The emcee of the March For Democracy rally, was also a Veteran of Iraq War who said that the war left him 100% disabled. Kristopher Goldsmith, a podcaster and author of the book ‘War Is A Racket,’ told of how Veterans benefits were being taken from service members who had earned their right to them. In the legislature at that time the House was voting to fund some benefits by taking benefits from other Veterans.
Veterans benefits for tinnitus and sleep apnea, common disabilities wartime Veterans suffer, were cut in the to fund expansion of combat disabilities. The Take Care of Veterans Act was passed in the House and forwarded to the Senate for consideration. The Bill was seen by many of the speakers as a cynical response to Veterans’ needs, especially as the Iran War is still technically ongoing.
The Iran War was not authorized by Congress when the president authorized a massive attack against Iran on February 28 of this year. So far 23 U.S. servicemen have lost their lives in the War and hundreds more have been injured. Over $50 billion has been spent on this war and untold billions more have been lost because of destroyed U.S. military equipment and infrastructure built over decades in the Middle East. But one of the biggest impacts of the war has been on global economic stability. The confidence U.S. allies has been diminished as well. There is also the unsettling possibility that some commanders could face war crimes charges against them at the International Criminal Court as the result of a bombing of an Iranian elementary school at which 187 teachers and children were killed.
As afternoon sun settled behind the Capitol and the Veterans stood in a pleasant Autumn breeze, it was clear that the results of the midterm election would bring change to the power dynamics in the legislature before them. Just how much that power would benefit them was still to be seen.
