February, 17 2011, 12:43pm EDT
Veterans For Peace Demands Apology From Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton Watches as Police Manhandle Peaceful Protester
WASHINGTON
Just minutes after Secretary Clinton began a speech lauding freedom of the internet, two security personnel forcefully removed an audience member wearing a Veterans For Peace t-shirt who had silently stood and turned his back to her. Ray McGovern, a 71-year old veteran, and former CIA analyst was violently grabbed and forcibly removed from the auditorium in direct view of Mrs. Clinton. According to Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, "For this peaceful expression of dissent, he ended up bruised, bloodied, arrested, and jailed. Secretary Clinton never paused, continuing her speech lecturing other countries about the need to allow freedom of expression and dissent, while Mr. McGovern was hauled out in front of her."
Mr. McGovern is covered with bruises, and the metal handcuffs were fastened so tightly that his wrists were cut and bloody. After being held by local police, he was told that he was being charged with "disorderly conduct."
We asked Ray for a quick statement after his release. He wrote:
"I find myself wondering if this show of brutality may be a signpost on a path to even wider and more brutal repression. I have been comparing what happened during Clinton's speech Tuesday with my four-minute mini-debate with Donald Rumsfeld on May 4, 2006 in Atlanta (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MInHphR4zBg). Halfway through, Rumsfeld gives the nod to a black-hatted security fellow to elbow me away from the microphone.
I shout, 'So this is America.' Rumsfeld takes one look at the TV cameras streaming live, makes a snap decision, and tells the security fellow to let me stay. During that same speech in Atlanta, one fearless witness stands dead-center in the audience with his back to Rumsfeld for the entire speech and is not bothered, much less beaten and jailed.
The contrast between the experience of May 2006 and February 2011 can be viewed through the prism of the proverbial 'boiling frog.' There does seem to be a subtle but successful campaign to get people gradually accustomed to increasingly repressive measures; and many, perhaps most, Americans seem oblivious.
After 9/11 Norman Mailer saw a 'pre-fascist climate' reigning in America. If we don't stand up for our rights, it may not be long before we shall have to drop the 'pre.'"
Veterans For Peace is proud of our member Ray McGovern, whose simple, dignified action speaks volumes about the power of non-violence. We abhor the actions of the security personnel who reacted violently and in flagrant violation of Mr. McGovern's First Amendment rights. We also deplore the indifference of Secretary Clinton who didn't bat an eye and we demand that she apologize for her silence and hypocrisy. Most importantly, we call on the American public to wake up to the dark reality of what this country has become...a place where civil liberties and freedom of expression are becoming increasingly endangered, and the government's response to every situation is intimidation and force.
Call 202-647-4000 and write Sec. Clinton to protest.
Veterans For Peace is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars.
(314) 725-6005LATEST NEWS
Corbyn Accuses Starmer Government of ‘Echoing Tony Blair’s Obedience to Washington’
"Blair dragged the UK into an illegal war that triggered a spiral of hatred, conflict, and misery," Corbyn said. "Twenty-three years later, another Labour prime minister is doing his best to follow in Blair’s footsteps."
Mar 03, 2026
As UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer allows British bases to be used as part of the US-Israeli war against Iran, the former leader of his Labour Party says he's making the same mistake that another Labour PM made 23 years ago.
Jeremy Corbyn, the socialist member of Parliament who led Labour from 2015 to 2020, said on Tuesday that Starmer was "echoing Tony Blair’s obedience to Washington", referring to the then-prime minister's decision in 2003 to join US President George W. Bush's war in Iraq.
"Ignoring the wisdom of ordinary people who could see the catastrophe ahead, Blair dragged the UK into an illegal war that triggered a spiral of hatred, conflict, and misery. More than a million Iraqi men, women, and children paid the price." Corbyn wrote in a Tuesday piece for the democratic socialist publicationTribune.
Infamously pledging to Bush, "I will be with you, whatever," Blair helped to promote the false claims that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. And despite a lack of support from the United Nations, he joined Bush's "coalition of the willing," committing 46,000 British troops to the war.
"This was the last time a Labour prime minister blindly backed the wishes of the US and its warmongering president," Corbyn said. "Twenty-three years later, another Labour prime minister is doing his best to follow in Blair’s footsteps and drag us into a catastrophic, illegal war."
Unlike Bush, US President Donald Trump has not yet put boots on the ground in Iran, instead waging a destructive campaign of aerial bombings and missile strikes that have taken out the nation's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other senior Iranian officials.
As of Monday, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a US-based monitor of human rights in Iran, reported that at least 742 civilians had been killed since Saturday by US and Israeli attacks, with nearly 1,000 injured and more than 600 deaths still under review.
While Starmer has stressed that the UK "had no role" in launching the war, he has lent credence to the questionable case the US and Israel have made to justify it, including emphasizing that Iran "must never have nuclear weapons."
Iran has always contended its nuclear program was not for military purposes, and it had no desire to produce a nuclear weapon. Prior to Saturday’s strikes, reports indicated that Iranian negotiators had offered to give up the nation's entire stockpile of enriched uranium.
And though he has accused Iran of launching "indiscriminate strikes" across the Gulf, Starmer has been reticent to criticize similar actions by the US and Israel, which have had vastly larger death tolls, including the bombing of a girls' school that reportedly killed 165 people, most of them girls between ages 7 and 12, and attacks on several hospitals.
One day after the first strikes were conducted, and following mounting pressure from Trump, Starmer announced that he'd given the US approval for "specific, limited defensive" use of three Royal Air Force (RAF) bases—Fairford in England, Akrotiri in Cyprus, and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean—in order to destroy Iran's missiles "at source" after a drone hit Akrotiri, causing minimal damage.
However, Starmer continued to claim that the UK had learned the "mistakes of Iraq," and "will not join offensive action now."
Corbyn said that Starmer's insistence that bases would only be used "defensively" was merely "meaningless vocabulary that reveals Starmer’s contempt for the intelligence of the British people."
In Parliament on Monday, Starmer said that "the use of the bases is to allow the US to use its ability to take out the ability of Iran to launch the attacks in the first place."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday used similar reasoning to justify launching the war, explaining that Iran was likely to retaliate against a planned Israeli attack and that it therefore posed an "imminent threat" to US personnel even though that threat was contingent on Israel attacking first.
Corbyn described the idea of a "preemptive strike" as a contradiction in terms. "Under this convoluted reasoning," he said, "almost any attack on anybody can be classified as a defensive measure. Starmer’s words are Newspeak—and cannot shield his government from complicity in the devastation ahead."
Like in the United States, the British public has expressed low support for American and Israeli actions against Iran. According to a YouGov poll published on Monday, 49% disapprove of US military action, compared to 28% who support it. Fewer than 1 in 5 Labour voters said they supported it.
Voters also said they oppose their government's involvement. Compared with just 32% of Brits who said they supported letting the US use British bases, 50% said they opposed it.
"For too long, Britain has blindly followed the US as it indulges in disastrous imperial fantasies," Corbyn said, noting the UK's continued support for Israel over two years of US-sponsored genocide in Gaza.
Corbyn is now an independent MP who co-founded a new political party after being thrown out of Labour in 2020 over dubious accusations of antisemitism, which he has alleged stem from his strong criticism of Israel.
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"It is the American people who are asked to make the sacrifice," said the Senate candidate. "It is never those in power. It is never those with wealth. It is always asked of us."
Mar 03, 2026
As the death toll in the US and Israel's assault on Iran rose to nearly 800 on Tuesday and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle pushed for the passage of a war powers resolution to stop President Donald Trump's "horrific war of choice," US Senate candidate Graham Platner, a Democrat from Maine and a combat veteran, is speaking out loudly against another war of choice by the United States.
In a new video posted on social media, Platner noted that his 2026 rival, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), recently said the US should attack Iran only "as a last resort"—something that did not come to pass, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who admitted Monday that the US and Israel waged war due to an "imminent threat" posed by the fact that Israel was planning an attack that Iran was likely to retaliate against.
Platner said Rubio's comments pointed to "quite possibly the most ridiculous excuse for starting a war" and warned that the situation is "spiraling out of control" before emphasizing that Collins "has the power to stop this."
Collins has been named as a potential Republican "yes" vote for the War Powers Resolution that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has said he'll bring to the Senate floor this week.
"Sen. Collins, I'm just going to ask you straight up," said Platner. "You voted to send me to Iraq. Did you not learn anything from that experience? You need to stand up. The American people do not want this war."
Polling out Sunday showed that just 25% of Americans support the US attack on Iran, and Platner's comments to Collins were just his latest in which he tied Trump's war to the unpopular wars in which Platner himself fought and lost numerous friends.
"They are willing to sacrifice the lives of young American men and women and the lives of Iranian civilians simply to protect their political interests," Platner said at a campaign event in Brewer, Maine on Monday, accusing Trump of waging war partially to distract the public from the Epstein files.
"I cannot think of a more reprehensible act," he said. "I cannot think of a more unpatriotic act, of a more un-American act, than to send our sons and daughters off to die, to kill, to bring immense violence to innocent civilians abroad simply because you're afraid you might lose the midterms. It is disgusting."
Thank you to all who joined us in Brewer yesterday to fight to stop this senseless war.
Full remarks and video below.
*********
First, I want to say thank you to Food and Medicine for having me. The work of Food and Medicine, the Eastern Maine Labor Council, quite frankly,… pic.twitter.com/mi3BqmyuGl
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) March 2, 2026
He continued:
It is the American people who are asked to make the sacrifice. It is American families who have to bury their dead sons and daughters. It is American friends who have to watch their best friends come home from a war and struggle for years with physical and mental trauma.
That is who bears the brunt of all of this. It is never those in power. It is never those with wealth. It is always asked of us. And that is why we need to only wage war when the American people know it is actually in their best interest. And if it isn't, we do not do it. This war needs to end. And it needs to end now.
[...]
Watching people who do not know the realities of war, watching people who know nothing of the horror that comes with this kind of violence, people who could not even imagine what it feels like in the pit of your stomach when you hear that one of your friends has been killed; or watching one of your best friends be ripped apart by explosives; watching people who have no idea what any of this looks like or feels like celebrate this, disgusts me. And then watching them turn around and tell us that these sacrifices are just "what happens." We just need to be prepared for more casualties, because that's "what happens." It's not what fucking "happens" to them. It's what "happens" to us.
Platner emphasized that the ongoing assault on Iran "is only possible because we have had a Congress that for decades has abdicated its responsibility, its constitutional responsibility, in making war," and demanded that the 2001 Authorization of Use of Military Force be repealed and that Congress go further than the War Powers Resolutions that have been proposed to to rein in Trump's attacks in the Middle East as well as Latin America.
"We need a truly reformed War Powers Act, where we really pull the power back," said Platner. "We need to know why military force is used right off the bat. And it needs to be approved by Congress right off the bat. The Constitution is clear about who is supposed to have the power of waging war in this country. It is the body that is most representative of the American people because it is the American people who have to bear the brunt of combat."
He closed his remarks with a moment of silence for the American service members and hundreds of Iranians who have been killed in Iran in recent days.
"Working people in this country, working people in Iran, working people around the world have everything in common with each other," said Platner. "All of our needs are exactly the same. And we are used as pawns in the games of the powerful and the wealthy."
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Trump Threatens Full Trade Embargo Over Spain's Refusal to Be Complicit in Iran Attacks
Ripping the US president's "flagrant disregard for European sovereignty—and security," co-general coordinator of Progressive International declared: "Close the bases. All of them."
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cut off all trade with Spain over the Spanish government's refusal to allow US aircraft to use its military bases for the war that the United States and Israel are waging on Iran.
Speaking with reporters at the White House beside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz just after noon Eastern time, Trump initially signaled that he'd already taken action against Spain, but less than 10 minutes later, the president suggested he was still deciding.
Referring to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was also in the room, Trump said: "Spain has been terrible. In fact, I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain."
Trump claimed that "it started" last year, when every other NATO member caved to US pressure to aim for spending 5% of gross domestic product on defense by 2035, "and Spain didn't do it."
"And now Spain actually said that we can't use their bases. And that's all right. We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody's going to tell us not to use it. But we don't have to. But they were unfriendly," the president continued. "Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people but they don't have great leadership."
Again complaining about their refusal to commit to 5%, he said that "we're gonna cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain."
However, just minutes later, while referencing the recent US Supreme Court ruling against his sweeping tariffs, Trump said: "As an example, we talked about Spain. I could, tomorrow, stop, or today even better, stop everything having to do with Spain. All business having to do with Spain, I have the right to stop it—embargoes, do anything I want with it. And we may do that with Spain."
Both sets of remarks were swiftly denounced by a range of critics. The anti-war group CodePink declared: "Ludicrous. The US is threatening to stop all trade with Spain to force them to spend more money in an effective US weapons cartel. This is only normal in a war economy."
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, called out Trump's threat to use Spanish bases without permission. Sharing a clip on social media, he said, "Trump openly threatens the territorial sovereignty of yet another NATO ally.
Zeteo journalist Mehdi Hasan similarly responded: "He is a 19th century imperialist. Or at least talks like one and wishes he was one. 'We could just fly in' to Spain, against the wishes of the sovereign national government? That's literally an illegal invasion and brazen violation of international law."
On Monday, David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International, welcomed Spain's decision and argued that "Europe should close all of the US bases on its soil."
After Trump's Tuesday comments, Adler said: "Flagrant disregard for European sovereignty—and security. Enough. Close the bases. All of them."
"Holy shit—Trump said this while sitting next to Friedrich Merz?!" he added. "Total European humiliation. Truly abject."
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur focused on the occupied Palestinian territories and a target of Trump administration sanctions, responded to the US president by praising the "strength" of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
"The peoples of Europe do not want to be complicit in a system that kills children and protects those who profit from their blood," Albanese said. "Europe deserves better, and you are already part of that change. Thank you."
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