Detroit — Elected officials joined community activists downtown late Wednesday afternoon to oppose the U.S. war in Iran and to demand Congress act to stop the escalation.
In front of the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building, one speaker called for lawmakers to “get a spine” and vote to rein in President Donald Trump, even as a congressional effort to do so was failing. Speakers at Wednesday’s event in Detroit called on the House, especially Michigan’s representatives, to support the measure.
“The Congress of the United States — Republicans, Independents and Democrats — need to get a spine and stand together, stand up for Democracy, stand up for peace,” said former U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, a Democrat and member of the Jewish community.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said American families struggling with rising costs of housing, groceries, utilities and health care “don’t want another war.”
“Every day people are told that there are no resources to assist working families,” Hammoud said. “Yet we see that whenever a war erupts, billions of dollars are found and they continue to fuel this vicious cycle that we are far too accustomed to.”
Trump and Republican supporters said the military strikes on Iran are legal, despite being launched without explicit congressional authorization. They’ve argued the offensive is necessary to destroy Iranian military infrastructure and prevent anticipated Iranian attacks, according to Reuters.
Wednesday’s event in Detroit took place as the U.S. Senate voted to block a resolution aimed at stopping the air war and giving Congress more power to stop the White House from escalating hostilities with Iran, Reuters reported. The resolution was a bipartisan effort, but failed 52-47, mostly along party lines.
Michigan Democratic U.S. Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters voted in favor of the measure. Both are Democrats.
The House is scheduled Thursday to vote on a similar war powers resolution.
Speakers also called on Congress to oppose any further White House requests for cash to support the war in Iran. Lawmakers expect the Trump administration to seek up to $50 billion for the conflict in the coming days, Politico reported Wednesday.
“As long as the killing of children, the bombing of schools and endless war is continued to be funded, our schools here at home go underfunded, the further we are away from universal health care and the cost of simply living with dignity in this country becomes more and more unattainable for the majority of people like us,” said Layla Elabed, co-chair of the Dearborn-based group Uncommitted and a leader of Arab Americans for Progress.
The White House has said it is using precise, targeted strikes against Iran’s leaders and military.
On the first day of U.S. airstrikes, a girls’ school in Iran was hit, killing more than 160, according to Iranian state media and officials, Reuters reported. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “would not deliberately target a school” and that reports of civilian harm were being investigated.
“As a father of three girls, I can’t fathom what those families are going through,” Hammoud said.
Speakers in Detroit lamented that six American soldiers have been killed in the war. The U.S. military said the service members died when a drone slammed into a U.S. military facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, Reuters reported.
“These Americans signed up to defend the homeland, to defend this country, not to fight a war for (Israeli) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government,” said State Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn.
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dearborn’s mayor, ex-Rep. Levin call on Congress to oppose Iran war
Reporting by Max Reinhart, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
