I write today with a heavy heart and a growing sense of dread. It’s a feeling I have not been able to shake for weeks now. With each news headline, each cryptic statement, and each political maneuver, I fear that our country is inching closer to war.
I am fully aware that the decision to go to war lies, constitutionally, with Congress. This is what our founding documents stipulate. This is what checks and balances are supposed to ensure. But I also fear we are in a moment where these democratic norms are being deliberately eroded—where precedent, law, and even public sentiment are too easily cast aside.
And yes, I fear that Donald Trump will not honor the constitutional process. He has made clear through both word and action that he does not feel beholden to the same limits and deliberations that define a functioning democracy. He has already said he would be a "dictator on day one." And when it comes to war—where the stakes are human lives, international order, and the future of our children—such authoritarian impulses should terrify us all.
A recent segment from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was most definitely cathartic. I encourage you to watch it. He captures, with precision, the absurdity and danger of this political moment. His satire is a sharp political commentary that exposes the contradictions and rhetorical manipulations surrounding the current escalation. I love how he captures my feelings.
I do not, as yet, see any legitimate provocation or evidence to justify war. And that is precisely what makes this moment so dangerous. History has shown us how easily wars can be waged under false pretenses.
The 2003 invasion of Iraq, for instance, was premised on the existence of weapons of mass destruction that were never found. Despite repeated claims by President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Iraq posed an imminent threat—claims later proven to be misleading or outright false—Congress voted to authorize military force.
Most memorable was Rice's infamous warning in 2002, with words designed to instill fear and justify an unnecessary war:
“We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud” (Rice, 2002).
Independent investigations, including the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (2004), later concluded that key claims about Iraq’s weapons programs were unsupported by the available intelligence (also see Jackson, 2005). The report states:
“The intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq were serious and pervasive. So were the failures prior to the September 11 attacks. While the investigations will continue, reform must begin. There can be no delay when the safety and security of America and Americans are at stake” (U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 2004, p. 510).
The results were hundreds of thousands dead, a destabilized Middle East, and a deep wound to America’s credibility in the world.
This isn’t just about politics. It’s about our very humanity. War is not an abstract concept. It is not a campaign strategy, a spectacle, or a “theater.” War devastates. It destroys homes, families, futures. And it leaves wounds, seen and unseen, that last for generations.
Some may say I’m being alarmist. But history has shown us what happens when we normalize lawlessness and look the other way. We cannot afford that complacency now. We must speak up, we must organize, and we must hold accountable anyone who threatens to drag our country—and the world—into another reckless and unnecessary war.
 |
| demandpeace.org |
One good thing we can all do today is reach out to whoever represents us in Congress and let them know how we feel, while there is still time. We must also demand that our media institutions not function as megaphones for power and instead rigorously press our elected officials for verifiable evidence of an imminent threat. Anything less is complicity in the manufacture of war.
New York Times. (2025, June 19). Trump Will Decide on Iran Attack ‘in the Next Two Weeks,’ White House Says, New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/19/world/iran-israel-trump-news
Rice, C. (2002, September 8). Interview on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/le/date/2002-09-08/segment/00
The Daily Show. (2024, June 16). Jon Stewart on Israel’s "urgent" Iran strike, Minnesota murders & MAGA’s blame game [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q08a7BI9XI&t=118s
U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. (2004). Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/publications/108301.pdf
