Veterans arrested in anti iran war protest in the Capitol

Veterans and military family members protesting President Donald Trump's war in Iran were arrested inside the Capitol on Monday, bringing one of the country's most symbolically powerful anti-war constituencies directly into the legislative complex as public skepticism over the conflict continues to deepen.

Photos and videos from the scene showed police handcuffing demonstrators as they held symbolic burial flags and staged a protest against the war inside the Cannon Rotunda on April 20.

The protesters weren't professional activists or the usual Washington coalition crowd, but former members of the U.S. Armed Forces, including disabled veterans and military family members, with a simple and devastating message: they know what war costs because they have already paid for one. Some of them were on crutches and others in wheelchairs. Some carried U.S. flags of fallen soldiers.

Some of the demonstrators identified themselves as members of About Face Veterans, an anti-war veterans group that has spent years organizing against what it calls permanent war and militarized politics at home, and the protest itself was named "Veterans Against Fascism."

Monday's demonstration was not an isolated eruption. It fits into a broader campaign by anti-war veterans who argue that militarism abroad and democratic erosion at home are linked. For the group and its allies, Iran is the immediate flashpoint, but the larger target is the political culture that keeps producing new wars while presenting them as strength.

The protesters aligned with the U.S. public's skepticism about the war. Quinnipiac University found in March that 53 percent of voters opposed the U.S. military action against Iran, while 74 percent opposed sending ground troops. Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said voters were "unenthusiastic" about the air attack and overwhelmingly against a ground war.

Pew Research Center found that 61 percent of Americans disapproved of Trump's handling of the conflict, and 59 percent said the initial decision to use force was the wrong one. AP-NORC also found that six in 10 U.S. adults believed recent military action against Iran had gone too far.

The veterans protesting against the Iran war are supported by others inside the veteran community, especially among those who hear echoes of Iraq and Afghanistan in the current conflict.

Some of the criticism has been blunt.

Reuters reported last month on Brian McGinnis, a former Marine and North Carolina Green Party Senate candidate, who interrupted a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing to denounce the war. He shouted, "Israel is the reason for this war. America does not want to fight for Israel," before he was removed.

Veterans For Peace, another established anti-war veterans organization, issued a statement on March 1 saying it "condemns the U.S./Israeli attack on Iran in the strongest possible terms" and called on allies to resist what it described as a dangerous and illegal war.

Originally published on Latin Times