Yesterday, July 21st, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth appeared before the Senate Appropriation Committee to testify about the financial costs of the Iran War, and also to request additional funding from Congress
When it comes to day to day living, most of us common citizens work in dollars and cents, in hundreds of dollars, in thousands perhaps, even into the 6 figures maybe. Washington, and the Military-DHS-Industrial Complex, on the other hand, deal in the Billions; in the Trillions.
By admission, this Administration has spent $37.5 Billion so far on bullets and bombs–though one may be skeptical as to whether this number is not higher in reality? Just to factor in, for example, the amount of our taxpayer dollars which has been directly handed to Israel in the form of military aid which that country has deployed against Iran in this war. Also, the damage that has been done to US and Israeli assets, and the ultimate cost to the taxpayer. And now, Congress is being leveraged to extract another $67.1Billion more from the public coffers. And actually, much of this will have to be borrowed–from countries like China, like the UAE, like Saudi Arabia. And this $67 Billion is just for short term “emergency” funding. Should the US and Israel have its way, and should it ultimately proceed towards regime change, and should the scenario escalate drastically, then surely we the taxpayers would get shook down for hundreds of billions, even trillions more. Or does anybody doubt this? (Remember, the Iraq War cost the US at least $3 Trillion, and counting with a continued presence)
While MAGA and its Fascist Media sources demonize Somalian immigrants and Latino Bodega Owners for allegedly stealing a few thousand dollars a year each in fraudulent SNAP benenefits–and of course, they do so out of hatred of the Muslims and Raza–here they are squandering more money than any of us would see in 100 lifetimes, and as if it were pocket change, as if the money had as little value as the lives of those whom they seek to annihilate with it.
The greatest and most tragic cost of war is of course the death and destruction it unleashes, the suffering it produces, the toxicity of hatred and calloused indifference it engenders, and the physical and psychological trauma and wounds that it imposes.
So far in this war, 18 US servicemembers have been killed in a war that is blatantly unconstitutional and illegal by our own standards–Congress never declared/authorized war, which is the only legal body that is allowed to do so under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution. Sadly, those servicemembers died in contrast to their Oaths to “Protect and Defend the U.S. Constituion”–above every other duty or order. Those are 18 devastated families who are mourning because of the bloodthirst and a sense of impunity which possesses those jackals who are calling the shots at the highest levels of authority within the Empire’s hierarchy, to act out in wars of aggression against other sovereign nations deploying kids from poor and working class backgrounds to the frontlines as if they were pieces of a chess board.
We’ve seen Empure make its first move time and time again throughout history! Vietnam, Cuba, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Venezuela. Not to mention the myriad coup d’etats and proxy wars, including both the CIA led coup of democratically-elected Iranian President Mohammed Mossadegh in 1952, and the US sponsored Iraqi invasion of Iran in the 1980’s, a war in which Sadaam Hussein used chemical weapons against the Iranians, weapons given to him by Donald Rumsfield, on behalf of the U.S.
While Trump and his cronies, particularly Hegseth and Rubio, barely even acknowledge those 18 dead Americans, the Fascist media pounds the drums of war 24/7, engineering consensus with messaging aimed at manipulating the minds of the masses in favor of regime change and full scale war, (including the targeting of Iranian civilian infratructure in violation of International Law, a ground invasion, and the creation of sectarian warfare by “activating the Kurds”, as one retired military officer recently put it on Fox News). Of course, consistent with its dishonest character, Fascist Media and MAGA officials arrogantly in some cases, using deception in the case of others, they claim that victory is so very easily achievable. They discredit any possibility that Iran could effectively defend itself, that victory could only come after major costs. That this could end up in a protracted war, rather than be over in just 4-6 weeks as we were originally promised, which was obviously fantasy at best, more than likely though just an outright lie to produce consensus for those who might have disagreed had they known the truth about both Iran’s and the U.S.’ true military capabilities, and strategic advantages and disadvantages of the two sides (and Israel’s).
And of course, the architects of war–fascist media, the politicians, the bureaucrats, the influencers–they say nothing of innocent Iranians who have been killed and maimed by the bombs and missles, including at least 221 children (some estimate over 300) and 259 women killed, nearly 5000 civilians wounded. And may we never forget those 120 children martryed at the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School, which was targeted by U.S. Tomahawk missles. May Allah Reward those martyrs, those children.
Dr. Martin Luther King once said: “There comes a point when silence becomes treason”. Are we not at that point, ladies and gentleman? And let’s not forget that, at this very same moment, 11 million Cubans are being starved and suffocated by a most brutal and and absolutely inhumane blockade, only rivaled in modern history by the Zionists in Gaza, and Palestine. This, while we enjoy every privilege and luxory under the sun.
I ask you this…Which man, which child, has ever chosen to be born where we were, when we were, in what circumstances we were. Which of us chose to be conditioned with the identity we have by nature of race, or religion, or nation associated with our upbringing. These particulars are, for each of us, by the Will of God.
What could be the purpose of our drastic, sometimes and perhaps often conflicting differences, if not in part at least to learn to respect and love one another on the basis of our common humanity, more than to war with each other over our differences? When compassion for our neighbor surpasses self-rightous judgement of the “other”, then everyone benefits. When we recognize our common humanity–that we are all inextricably linked, both flawed and beautiful, capable of creation and capable of deatruction,–and strive to embody the best of it in pursuit of the common good, and the greater common good at that–well then we will then possess the potential to peacefully coexist and thrive alongside one another. This is possible, this I do believe in my heart. And hold on to with hope.
Today is July 22, 2026 according to the Gregorian calendar. Have we not gained from the benefit of history’s many reminders, and its ultimate morals? Or are we not so civilized after all?