War In Iran

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The sign says “No blood for oil’. I’ve often thought that I should create a library of political signs then I could bring out over and over again. If, for example, when I went to my very first demonstration against the Vietnam War in 1966 I had invested in a beautifully embossed, solid silver sign that said “Stop the bombing!” I could have brought it out periodically over the years, as I do my grandmother’s cutlery on special occasions, and it would be perfectly appropriate today. “No blood for oil” seems appropriate, although at this particular moment I’m not sure whether “No blood for ???” might not be more apropos, since like most of the country I’m still completely confused about what the point of this latest war is, other than, perhaps, distraction from the Epstein files.

To that end, it seems that Trump, even in his attempts to distance himself from charges of abuse and assaults on women and girls, can’t help but inflict more horrific violence on women and girls, as one of the first targets of his and Netanyahu’s joint bombing spree was a girl’s school where more than eighty children, mostly girls between the ages of six and ten, were killed on the first day of the attack. My heart goes out to their families, who must be suffering unimaginable pain. We don’t yet know how many other Iranians were killed, nor how many casualties were suffered in their retaliatory raids elsewhere in the Middle East and in Israel. We did hear this morning, already, on the second day of the war that three American service members have died and five others been wounded. And what we do know is that the damage of war is always inflicted on those who had no choice in waging it.

Yesterday, at the emergency demonstration I went to, a heckler came up and confronted one of the elders holding a sign that countered US militarism. “Don’t you support our troops?” he demanded of the gentleman with the sign, who engaged him patiently in a long discussion. I left them to it, but what I could have said is “Yes, we do support the troops!” That’s why we don’t want to see them sacrificed for the selfish ends of a demented narcissist incapable of empathy, for his genocidal crony in Israel and their circle of sociopathic enablers.

I’m not an expert on Iran, so I’ve been listening to those who know more than I do to try to discern the real reason behind this madness. Rachel Maddow says “Follow the money.” It’s no coincidence that the Gulf States, Iran’s major opposition in the Middle East, have been pouring billions into the Trump family ventures, from Jared Kushner’s bogus investment fund to their money laundering crypto. Timothy Snyder, on the other hand, sees this as Trump’s attempt to proactively rig the 2026 elections, by giving him an excuse to claim Iranian interference in the election that might create a rationale for seizing voting machines and/or deploying ICE at polling sites.

Trump claims regime change is the motive, that he’s hoping the Iranian protesters who have been so brutally suppressed in recent weeks will seize the day and overthrow their government. While I’m not an expert on Iran specifically, I do have fifty years or more of experience at protesting, although I have never had to face the risks of the incredibly courageous Iranians who have stood up to their regime. But I can tell you this--it’s never helpful to a protest movement to have your country’s greatest enemies cheer you on. And when it comes to getting people out into the streets, bombing them is not a great tactic for mobilization. I’m sure no one in Iran is thinking about how to organize the next rally, but only where and how they take shelter and whether they and their families will survive.

More than twenty years ago, during the War in Iraq, a Gold Star mother named Cindy Sheehan went and sat at the gates of Bush’s Western White House in Texas and demanded that he meet with her to explain what her son Casey had died for. The encampment grew over the months, to hundreds and ultimately thousands of people. Veterans set up a mock cemetery studied with crosses to represent the soldiers who had died in that regime-change war. The protest began to turn the tide of Bush’s popular support, which was further eroded by his inept response to Hurricane Katrina which struck shortly after

Let us not wait until the ground is studded with thousands of gravestones, here and across the world, to raise our voices and demand an end to this latest slaughter. Call your representatives today and let them know we want them to stand up adamantly, against the illegality of Trump ignoring Congress, but also against the way itself and its underlying rationale--if there is one, other than Trump’s self-interest. No war for regime change abroad until we have one here! No blood for to keep Netanyahu’s sociopathic ass out of jail! No blood to pay back Trump’s Gulf State bribesters! No blood to further undermine our democracy! No blood to distract from the Epstein files to cover up the abuse of women and children by murdering more children!

Trump may be hoping his war will spur us all to rally around the flag. Yes, let’s do it! Let’s rally around the flag of justice, of respect for the Constitution, of our right to have a say in the decisions that impact us and the freedom to determine what we will or will not fight for and die for and. The Stars and Stripes may be getting a bit tattered—we may need to sew a new flag, raise a new banner that calls us not to arms, but to solidarity, to accountability, to liberty and justice, not just for the powerful few, but for all.

(The banner we created at the 2025 Spiral Dance!)

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