Sara Haghdoosti

Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson says we put up “poorly designed graphics” …

Reader, we used the Pentagon’s own graphic design.

taskandpurpose.com/news/veteran...

We will not forget their failure to uphold U.S. laws, we will not forget the ways they let discriminatory discourse fester, and we will not forget the thousands of people that died because of their cowardice.

Any Biden official that believes that many of us will trade potential future access for silence are deeply mistaken.

If former Biden officials believe that their past positions give them enough power to skirt accountability, they are mistaken. The national security space has changed and is changing.

As Jon and Phil say, Democrats should clarify where they stand. Among other things, they should clarify that former senior officials who authored the Biden admin’s failure on Gaza and failed to uphold U.S. laws should have no place in future Democratic admins.

So it’s hardly surprising that in their sudden embrace of common sense, they take no accountability for their actions. The situation in Gaza – and for activists at home – has worsened under Trump, but Team Biden paved the way.

Their colleagues persistently accused ceasefire activists of aiding Hamas and, when they were told repeatedly by activists that such messaging was both wrong and dangerous, the wild accusations only continued.

U.S. law is clear: it is illegal to ship arms to a government that restricts U.S. humanitarian aid deliveries. Instead of enforcing that law, they worked to obfuscate facts at the cost of thousands of lives in Gaza while undermining the rule of law at home.

These men held some of the highest positions in national security under Biden. When members of Congress began to question Biden’s obsession with giving PM Netanyahu any bomb, shell, or UN veto he asked for, their team was on the phone whipping against Congressional oversight.

Though nice to see Jon Finer and Philip Gordon catch up to bare minimum of where activists and the public have been for nearly two years on restricting US arms to the Israeli government, their article erases their own role in abetting the Netanyahu government’s genocide.

Agreed.

7/7 This isn’t just about this strike - it’s about accountability everywhere. We need answers. And we need to draw a line on the limits of presidential power - both abroad and at home.

6/7 And what about the implications at home? If this authoritarian government thinks it can carry out this level of violence abroad with impunity, what stops similar tactics being used domestically?

5/7 Administration officials say they have more strikes planned. Are they planning on carrying out a whole secret military campaign? Could we be on the path to the destructive regime change war in Venezuela that so many in the Trump administration have long desired?

4/7 Since when is it acceptable for the U.S. government to use lethal force with zero due process? This sets a dangerous precedent.

3/7 We also don’t know what legal authority the administration used to justify the strike. Senior officials have basically said, “the president decided the people on the boat were narco-terrorists and that’s enough.” Are they saying the president can kill anyone he decides is a terrorist?

2/7 The Trump admin claims the people they killed were drug smugglers – as if that would make their execution legal or acceptable – but we don’t have evidence of their identities. As far as the U.S. public knows, our government killed random people on a boat for no discernible reason.

1/7 Last week, the U.S. killed 11 people on a boat in the Caribbean without presenting a shred of evidence on who they were, what threat they posed, or how summarily executing them could possibly be anything other than a crime. The Trump admin owes the public a lot of answers.

The human costs of Netanyahu’s war with Iran are already mounting. Over 200 people in Iran and over 20 in Israel have been killed already. 🧵

We need to work for offramps, and we need a ceasefire immediately. People in Iran and Israel deserve so much more than governments who consistently put their own interests over their people’s lives.

There are 90 million people in Iran. A full-scale war there would create a displacement crisis of massive proportions and with regionwide – and even global – effects.

If this war continues, the humanitarian situation in Iran could turn dire. The Israeli government already issued an evacuation warning for neighborhoods in Tehran - even though roads are packed with cars and folks are stranded. Many including the elderly or sick have no way of leaving.

Over the next few weeks - we’re likely to see strikes on oil fields and key energy infrastructure, leaving millions without power.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government, with implicit American backing, is already expanding the scope of its strikes. We’ve seen Netanyahu’s playbook in Gaza - we should expect more of the same.

The young Iranian poet who lost her life in an Israeli strike Parnia Abbasi, 23, was described by friends as funny and full of life. She and her family were among the first people killed in Israel’s attack on Iran.

Already, Israeli bombs that some believe are “liberating” civilians in Iran have killed them instead. Their stories are heartbreaking – a poet, an athlete, young people killed in an unnecessary war in which they had no say. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0... www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/... .

Here’s the thing: the only thing war guarantees is death and destruction. People made the same arguments about Iraq and Afghanistan, but those wars brought more suffering than relief. In Afghanistan, the Taliban is back in power after 20 years of war.

The Iranian government has consistently abused the rights of its people in horrific ways, and some have suggested that war with Iran to overthrow the government would be an uncomplicated blessing for those who suffer under its rule.

I was born in Iran and much of my family is there. I’ve always wanted an Iran where people there have a real say in their lives and are able to live and thrive with dignity and free from violence.

Already we’re seeing a record number of protests in the works for No Kings Day. It’s time for Congress to join people across the country and use every tool they have to oppose this autocratic power grab.

That makes this moment especially dangerous. What does a wannabe dictator and his incompetent secretaries do as the public turns against their cruel agenda? They lash out and escalate.