Consortium News, April 2, 2026
The power of the purse is the surest way Congress can stop the Iran war, or any war. If Congress funds war, Congress authorizes it. If Congress cuts off funds, a war will end.
No War On Iran protest at the White House, Washington, D.C., Feb. 28. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
By Dennis Kucinich
Substack
Up to 15,000 of the 50,000 American troops in the Middle East region are being positioned to participate in an assault on Kharg Island, Iran’s critical oil export hub, with the aspiration that America, once in control of Kharg, will turn the tables and assume dominance, opening the Strait of Hormuz for the U.S. and allies, while cutting off Iran from its major source of oil revenue.
Marines and paratroopers, with air and naval support, are poised to invade Kharg’s heavily defended 25-mile coast which features rocky terrain, cliffs and in some places, flat limestone surfaces, each presenting its own strategic calculus and hazards. Special Operations may be tasked with the mission of capturing Iran’s enriched uranium, an equally perilous task.
The U.S. cannot invade and/or hold Kharg Island without taking heavy casualties. Iran has been preparing more than 20 years for an assault on the island and U.S. troops could face potential annihilation with counter-attack coming from all directions, air, land and sea, giving new meaning to Kharg Island’s nickname, ‘The Forbidden Island.’
Our political leaders and their military advisors, unless they have been so infected with the virus of war that they have gone mad, must know our troops are facing slaughter.
We could be witnessing the tragic unfolding of a 21st century version of Custer’s Last Stand, where, at the Battle of Little Big Horn in June of 1876, General George Custer and 215 troops in his command were killed, thoroughly routed by the spiritual and strategic wisdom of native Indian leaders, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and their followers.
Custer’s troops had been sent by the U.S. government to reclaim Dakota Sioux land in the Black Hills after the discovery of gold in 1874.
Hubris is not limited to time and space. Underestimation of the strength of the opposition, an aggressive battle doctrine which ignored risk to life, overconfidence and cultural bias were operative at Little Big Horn and are abundantly present today among the Trump Administration’s advisors.
There should be no ground invasion of Kharg or other Iranian islands. There should be no further bombing runs or missile attacks on Iran. It is time to de-escalate, and quickly, to avoid further loss of life, and the world-wide collapse of food, fertilizer, fuel and other basic necessities.
Iran’s Kharg Island, 1973. (Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
I am not new to the hazards of malignant U.S. foreign policy. As a member of Congress, I led the effort against the Iraq. War. Over several years, I made 155 speeches in the House of Representatives, specifically cautioning against an attack on Iran, and urging diplomacy.
President Trump has fumbled for explanations for this war. It was for Israel, for regime change, to get rid of enriched uranium, to get rid of Iran’s missiles, and yesterday, according to the Financial Times, the naked reason is blood for oil.
Quoting the president:
“to be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people.”
Donald Trump meet Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does.” (Like cancelling the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018 and then complaining the Iranians are not abiding by it, or killing Iran’s chief negotiator, Ali Larijani , and then grousing there is no one with whom to negotiate.)
In the alternative, perhaps the president and his cronies having recently seized control of $150 billion of oil in Venezuela, are criminal masterminds, using the U.S. military as enforcers for private gain.
The president explained his ‘Rule of (liquid) Gold to The New York Times: “We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking (Venezuela’s) oil.”
Favored administration insiders make billions through stock manipulations, with advance knowledge of president’s market-pacing blurbs, underscoring war as a gigantic grift.
Bipartisan Knavery & Duplicity
During my service as a member of Congress, I challenged bipartisan knavery and duplicity.
I sued three presidents for violating the Constitution’s war powers, Democrat and Republican alike: Bill Clinton over Serbia, George W. Bush over Iraq, and Barack Obama over Libya.
I presented Articles of Impeachment charging both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney with violations of the Constitution. I did so as both parties repeatedly enabled war, not only through the vainglorious, corrupt actions of the Executive branch, but through Congressional nonfeasance.
Congress has failed to exercise its fundamental constitutional responsibilities relating to the War Power, as well as abandoned its preeminent role to curtail war through using the appropriations process.
Here is what I have witnessed as a member of Congress: The Democratic Party, aware of the public’s fatigue over the war in Iraq, ran its 2006 campaign on a promise to end that war.
The second the Democrats returned to power, leaders pledged to continue to fund the war, the very war they promised to end.
The bait and switch of the Democratic Party in the 2006 campaign, promising peace and delivering war, led me to run for president a second time, on a platform of Strength through Peace.
In 2024, Donald Trump promised peace. It was the cornerstone of his campaign. He excited a crossover vote, won the election and he, too, gave us the opposite, under the slogan “Peace through Strength,” followed by heavy military spending and imperial policies which either provoke or initiate war.
A Vote for War
The U.S. Capitol at night from the Library of Congress, 2021. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
If you want to see this war brought to an end, remember this: An appropriations vote is a vote for war. If your congressional representative votes for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), they vote for war.
This is not about disarming. It is about Congress deciding, on our behalf, limitations on aggression. If Congress votes for a supplemental appropriation to replenish missile stocks, and other armaments, they vote for war.
A congressperson cannot truthfully say they oppose war if they have voted to fund war.
The power of the purse is the surest means by which Congress can stop the Iran war, or any war. If Congress funds war, Congress authorizes it. If Congress cuts off funds, this war will be brought to an end.
The Democratic leader of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, has kept open the possibility of support for an additional $200 billion for the Iran War. This in advance of the 2027 annual war appropriation which the president has doubled, requesting $1.5 trillion, (about 80 percent of current discretionary spending).
The use of the power of the purse is the only means by which Congress can stop this war.
Members of Congress supporting a ground attack on Iran have failed to fulfill one of the most important constitutional responsibilities: Only Congress can legally take the American people from peace to a state of war and put America’s sons and daughters in harm’s way. Since Congress will not formally vote on a declaration of war, it enables war to be pursued through appropriations.
The economic costs of war against Iran, already approaching $40 billion, pale in consideration to the moral costs. The murder of 168 girls by a U.S. Tomahawk missile which struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school, in Minab, Iran on Feb. 28, will forever be a blot on our nation’s conscience.
The assassination of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s chief of state and religious leader as horrifying as it was illegal. The ongoing loss of thousands of Iranian civilian lives due to U.S. and Israeli bombing similarly violates international law, as well as the U.S.’ own laws and cries out for justice.
And we must never forget the price which American military families have already paid in loss of life or injury to their loved ones.
The wanton devastation our own government inflicts upon others in distant lands, our detachment from the carnage visited upon innocent people abroad, will return home in more coffins, more fractured families and pile misery upon misery in other, incalculable ways.
We cannot escape the consequences of the wrongful decisions of our leaders who disregard the U.S. Constitution, violate international and humanitarian law and capriciously kill civilians in other nations, ultimately placing American lives, both military and civilian, at risk.
Another Crime Against Humanity
Funeral of the children of the primary girls’ school in Minab, Iran, who were killed in the U.S.-Israeli bombing on Feb. 28. (Tasnim News Agency/ Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 4.0)
The Iran war is, much like the attacks against the people of Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, a crime against humanity, compounded by every bomb and missile strike paid for with our tax dollars. President Trump’s repeated threats to obliterate civilian Iranian energy and water infrastructure are textbook war crimes.
Throughout my career I had no hesitation to challenge the unconstitutional abuse of the war power. Federal courts have consistently declined to intervene in disputes between Congress and the president over war powers.
An appropriations vote is the prime political mechanism to start, continue, or to end a war. A “Yes” vote for a Pentagon appropriation is a vote for war. Period.
Exercising the power of the purse, voting “No” on appropriations which enable war, is the only means by which Congress can stop this war and any other war. If Congress funds war, Congress authorizes war.
Congress also has the War Powers Resolution, which can set a deadline for ending hostilities. Recently, Democratic leadership declined to force a War Powers vote, even as there was bipartisan support.
Ultimately, the financial support for war is not about Democrat versus Republican. Both parties have been captured by foreign and domestic interests that profit from endless war.
Our present leaders will continue to search for false justification was the Iran war, seeking to justify the unjustifiable profligate arms spending.
The cost of the Iran War will felt across the country, at the gas pump, and at the supermarket, while our government quibbles over feeding Americans through the SNAP program, as our farmers are go bankrupt. Is there any clearer demonstration that America has lost its way when its way is war?
A nation weakens itself, not through a single decision, but through a pattern of choices that place wars of choice above the well-being of its own people.
We the People Face a Choice
Trump saluting the transfer of six U.S. servicemembers killed in the Middle East on March 18 at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. (White House / Abe McNatt)
We the People also face a choice. Continued militarization of the budget brings militarization of thought, word and deed, precipitating more conflict, more wars and fewer resources for the needs of the American people, for jobs, wages, health care, education, and retirement security.
It is time for America to come home from the wars.
The midterm elections are approaching. Democrats and Republicans alike must be held accountable.
You, dear reader, have a voice, and it must be heard. Tell your member of Congress, clearly and without ambiguity, that spending more money for war is not acceptable.
It is time for a new path, and that path begins with you.
Get involved in the elections. Show up. Organize. Support candidates who respect the Constitution, who understand the cost of war, and who will not vote to fund war.
Help ensure that those candidates who stand up for the Constitution and who believe in diplomacy and peace are the ones who prevail.
Only an active citizenry can change the outcome. A constitutional republic endures only when its citizens remain vigilant.
That responsibility now rests with you. With us. With We the People.
A Guide to Lobbying:
Find your member of Congress and both your senators:
Call their office directly (websites are linked from the directory above) or phone the Capitol Switchboard and politely ask to be transferred: 1 (202) 224-3121
Ask for your representative’s office. Politely speak to staff. They are usually very young so be nice to them. They are likely as intimidated as you may feel if this is your first time to lobby like this.
Say something like, “My name is XXX. I am a constituent and a primary voter. Please ensure that our representative votes NO on any WAR APPROPRIATIONS BILL.”
Please also write to your representatives. Contact makes a difference. You can also go to their District or D.C. offices in person. Schedule ahead of time if you want to have an official meeting. Bring your friends, family and community with you! Your engagement makes a difference.
Be respectful, polite and confident in what you are asking for.
Kucinich statement after Trump’s Wednesday night address to the nation on Iran:
“The President’s address to the nation was a tone-deaf sale pitch for more war, delivered on the first night of Passover.
Civilian and military casualties are mounting across the region. Lives are being extinguished while triumphalist and violent rhetoric is offered as justification. War is being escalated in the name of peace, a contradiction that demands moral clarity, not political acceptance.
Each life lost carries equal value. No nation’s suffering is expendable. No people exist as collateral.
Iran is not an abstraction, nor just a target on a map. It is one of the great cradles of civilization, a society whose cultural and intellectual contributions long predate the rise of the modern West.
To speak casually of bombing such a nation ‘back to the Stone Age’ reveals a colonial mindset that dehumanizes others and diminishes our own humanity in the process.
The extensive bombing of Iran by the United States and Israel, along with Iran’s counterstrikes, is already taking innocent lives. The global economy is destabilizing as a result.
Energy markets are being disrupted. Oil and gas production is constrained. Fertilizer supply chains are impaired. Critical materials are being cut off.
These consequences will be felt worldwide. Yet the deeper crisis is not economic, it is moral.
We have seen this before. The repeated invocation of a nuclear threat echoes the false claims of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
That war cost thousands of American lives, the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and trillions of dollars, while leaving a legacy of instability and grief that endures to this day.
If the President truly sought to prevent a nuclear Iran, he would not have abandoned the JCPOA, an agreement that placed verifiable limits on Iran’s nuclear program. Instead, we are presented with a cycle of escalation that defies logic and invites catastrophe.
Political rhetoric is becoming increasingly radical and dangerous. This is not a question of partisan politics. It is a question of conscience with very real global and domestic consequences.
The American people are not called to accept this. They are called to stand against it.
Members of Congress must have the courage to exercise their constitutional authority and rein this in.
War framed as strength is destruction. Violence presented as necessity is gratuitous violence, with consequences already accelerating destabilizing shifts in the global order.
Congress must act. The Constitution vests in Congress the authority to bring this, and any war, to an end through the power of the purse.
The American people must immediately contact their representatives and demand a NO vote on any supplemental funding that would continue this war. Congress must VOTE NO.”
Dennis Kucinich is a former U.S. Congressman from Cleveland, Ohio, two-time presidential candidate, and founder of The Kucinich Report. Known for his unwavering commitment to peace, justice, and common sense, he has spent decades challenging war, corporate power, and political orthodoxy. Throughout his career, Kucinich led efforts to end U.S. military interventions abroad, championed domestic priorities like healthcare, workers’ rights and environmental protection, and promoted the creation of a Department of Peace. Today, through The Kucinich Report, he offers independent, insightful analysis of politics, foreign policy, and economic power — urging diplomacy, cooperation, and thoughtful leadership as a path toward a safer, more just world.
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