Mike Johnson refused to meet with over 60 veterans who came to the Capitol to demand he stop funding Trump’s war. Capitol Police zip-tied them and hauled them off.
The veterans came to the Cannon Rotunda with red tulips to honor Iranian civilians killed by US strikes.
They came with a folded flag to honor the 13 American troops killed so far in the war. They came with a simple request: meet with us. Accept this flag. Pledge to stop funding the war.
They represented seven veterans organizations including Veterans For Peace, About Face, Common Defense, Military Families Speak Out, the Center on Conscience and War, and 50501 Veterans. They are people who actually fought. People who actually lost. People who came home from Iraq and Afghanistan and watched Washington do it all over again.
“Not another nickel, not another dime. We won’t pay for Trump’s war crimes.”
Speaker Johnson would not come out of his office. He would not send a staffer. He would not accept the flag. He had Capitol Police zip-tie them and haul them off instead.
Mike Prysner, an Iraq War veteran and executive director of the Center on Conscience and War, spoke for the group before the arrests. His words should be read in every American home tonight:
“The war I was sent to senselessly claimed the lives of thousands of Americans and a million Iraqis. Like the other veterans here with me today, I have spent the last two decades wishing I could turn back the hands of time and refuse to go. Service members have that chance right now.”
Over 100 US service members have already filed as conscientious objectors to avoid deploying to Iran.
The veterans came to Washington to tell active-duty troops they have a legal right to refuse. They came to share information. They came to stand where they used to be standing. They came to try to save the next generation from becoming them.
Mike Johnson refused to look them in the eye. He used the Capitol Police instead. Veterans were zip-tied in the Cannon Rotunda for the crime of wanting their Speaker to do his constitutional job.
Congress has the sole authority to declare war. Johnson has refused to use it. Two war powers votes have failed by one or two votes. The ceasefire expires tomorrow.
The bombing could restart at any moment. And the Speaker of the House won’t meet with the veterans of the last disastrous war to talk about the next one.
These men and women earned the right to be heard. They earned it with their bodies, their friends, their years. And Johnson had them booked.