The Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing Proves the Democrats Don't Oppose the Iran War.

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired.
7-22-26 

As I pointed out yesterday, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration, was questioned during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. The administration is seeking another $87.6 billion in military funding, arguing that increased spending is necessary to sustain the U.S. war against Iran.

The administration appears to have expected that its campaign of air strikes and the assassination of senior Iranian officials would quickly weaken the Iranian government and force it to capitulate. Instead, the conflict has intensified. As of July 21, U.S. forces had conducted air strikes for ten consecutive nights, while Iran had retaliated by attacking a U.S. military installation in Jordan.

The war is becoming increasingly unpopular at home as its financial costs and economic consequences are felt by American families. According to an Ipsos poll, 71% of Americans think their country should not be involved in the Iran war and this rises to 79% for those aged 18-34.”. Globally, results are similar. Naturally one of the few countries that support it is Israel.

This growing public dissatisfaction is creating tensions within the Republican Party and providing political ammunition for Democrats ahead of the November elections.

Watching the committee hearing, however, it becomes clear that Democratic Senators Gary Peters and Jon Ossoff are not challenging the war itself. Their criticism is directed at what they regard as the Trump administration's failure to prosecute it effectively. Again and again, the focus is not whether the war should have been launched, but whether there is a coherent strategy for winning it.

Both senators begin by praising General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and expressing condolences for the three U.S. service members killed when Iran retaliated against American bombing raids. Neither senator questions the legality of the war itself, argues that it was unnecessary, or calls for an end to it and an apology to Iran. They don’t even call for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations. Nor do they challenge Hegseth's claim that Iran is the principal sponsor of global terrorism a long time US foreign policy strategy when the US  and the CIA is seen by millions of people around the world as the leader in that category.

In my view, this is the conclusion we need to draw from the hearing. The disagreements between the administration and its Democratic critics concern tactics and competence rather than the broader objectives of U.S. foreign policy. The debate is over how the war should be conducted, or managed, not whether it should continue. It’s basically more propaganda.

Peters, who frequently speaks about the importance of his Christian faith, and Ossoff, who has spoken publicly about his Jewish faith, express sympathy for American casualties but none for the suffering endured by ordinary Iranians. Whatever their religious convictions, humanitarian concern appears to stop at America's borders. 

 

A conservative Christian friend of mine recently remarked that politicians are simply corrupt. Many trade union members express similar frustration with union leaders that they believe have become detached from the workers they represent and claim the reason is corruption, that they are in bed with the boss or receive bribes. While I understand that sentiment, I believe the problem runs deeper than individual corruption. It’s connected to their world view.

As far as the Democratic and Republican parties go, they represent different wings of the same economic system. Their disagreements usually concern how American capitalism should be managed rather than whether its underlying priorities should be challenged. Foreign policy is perhaps the clearest example. Peters, often described as a centrist Democrat, and Ossoff, generally regarded as more progressive, ultimately support the same strategic framework as Republicans, even while criticizing the administration's execution of it.

This point became especially clear during Peters' exchange with Hegseth. Peters praised the professionalism of American service members before criticizing the administration's handling of the war. Hegseth responded that such criticism undermined those risking their lives, insisting that the military operation was necessary to ensure Iran never acquired a nuclear weapon.

Whether one accepts that justification or not, the exchange illustrated the narrow limits of debate within Washington. The central assumptions of American foreign policy are not confronted; not even questioned.

It is this consensus that helps explain why so many Americans have become cynical about politics. Public dissatisfaction is often described simply as anger over corruption, but the deeper issue is that the political system rarely permits a fundamental discussion about whose interests government serves. During presidential campaigns, the debate is almost always confined to competing visions of how best to manage capitalism. The system itself is off limits.

Whoever occupies the White House after November, working people will continue to bear the costs of economic inequality, military spending, and foreign wars. Figures such as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in law, are wealthy real estate speculators and Zionists negotiating on behalf of the American people. Let’s think for a minute that characters like these are quite prepared to invest in Gaza and build a fancy resort over the bones of perhaps hundreds of thousands of mur*dered innocent men women and children

I live in the richest and most powerful country in modern history. The American working class possesses enormous potential power, yet it also faces growing economic and political pressures. As capital operates increasingly through global institutions, working people will need institutions of our own that are independent of the two major parties and capable of acting across national boundaries. The US working class can play a major role in that but first we must settle accounts with our own rogue regime.

Time is running out.