Progressive leaders join Detroit-area officials to demand Congress reject Iran war funding

BY BEN SOLIS, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—Anti-war grassroots groups spoke out this week against President Donald Trump’s war against Iran and called on Michigan’s congressional delegation to vote against giving Trump the authority to expand and prolong the effort.

The groups—Arab Americans for Progress, Detroit Action, the Michigan Working Families Party, Voters Not Politicians and Jewish Voice for Peace Action—held a news conference Wednesday in Detroit, where they also called on Michigan’s congressional delegation to oppose any new funding that would help Trump continue the war.

The news conference came hours before the US Senate voted down a War Powers Resolution Wednesday aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to continue the joint war with Israel that has taken the lives of six American troops and killed top Iranian leaders. The resolution failed 47-52, with Sen. Rand Paul, (R- Kentucky), the only Republican to cosponsor the measure, joining Democrats in challenging Trump’s war in Iran. Sen. John Fetterman, (D-Pennsylvania), was the lone Democrat to break with his party and vote against moving ahead with the measure.

The groups in Detroit further linked Trump’s hardline immigration policies with his Middle East foreign policy focus, which now includes antagonizing Iran and inflaming that nation’s ongoing military conflict with Israel.

“The American people do not want another war,” said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud. “Families across this country are already struggling. The cost of housing keeps climbing. The costs of groceries and utilities keep rising. The cost of healthcare is the most unaffordable it’s ever been. Yet we see that whenever a war erupts, billions of dollars are found.”

State Rep. Alabas Farhart (D-Dearborn) said it was “shameful that in the richest most powerful country in the world, we have billions and billions of dollars for war, but no money to ensure kids go to quality public schools, to read proficiently by third grade, to ensure seniors don’t have to retire in poverty and can instead retire in dignity.”

Detroit City Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero said that her residents do not want war with Iran, and that they also want Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents out of Detroit streets. She also said Congress must act to rein in Trump on Iran.

State Rep. Erin Byrnes (D-Dearborn) echoed Santiago-Romero, adding that “enough was enough.”

“We do not war abroad, and we do not want state-sanctioned violence on our streets at home,” Byrnes added.

Layla Elabed, the organizing director at Arab Americans for Progress, said Congress must use its power to stand up to “Trump’s one-man march toward war.”

“This is about protecting human life, preventing another devastating and endless war, and defending our democracy,” Elabed said.

Abbas Alawieh, an adviser to Arab Americans for Progress and a candidate for Michigan’s Second State Senate District seat, said that much of the Arab community in southeast Michigan has family “on the other side of these bombs.”

“I’m in touch with family members now who no longer have homes as of this morning,” Alawieh said. “So our message from southeast Michigan is that our needs here are urgent. We need investments in healthcare. There is an affordability crisis. And every dollar that Congress and this White House dedicate for more war abroad is a dollar you’re denying people here at home.”

READ MORE: ICE wants to warehouse people in Michigan

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.