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For Immediate Release
June, 27 2017, 10:30am EDT
Contact:
Lindsey German: 074 721 989 41, Chris Nineham: 079 305 365 19
Stop the War's Statement on Trump's Claims About Syria
There must be every fear that Donald Trump is planning a further escalation of his wars in the Middle East - an escalation which will be backed by the weak and rotten British government, propped up by the right-wing DUP. Michael Fallon has already recklessly committed to support any escalation. It is a move we should all oppose.
WASHINGTON
There must be every fear that Donald Trump is planning a further escalation of his wars in the Middle East - an escalation which will be backed by the weak and rotten British government, propped up by the right-wing DUP. Michael Fallon has already recklessly committed to support any escalation. It is a move we should all oppose.
There can be no justification for the use of chemical weapons, and we condemn any use of them. Trump's claim that he knows of a proposed chemical weapons attack to be carried out by the Assad government, and that he will use military action to prevent this, should also worry everyone who wants peace in the Middle East. We do not know what evidence he has, and it is clear that at least some US military sources are sceptical of his claims. But we do know that Trump has built up US support for Saudi Arabia in recent months, and at the same time increased his verbal attacks on Iran, one of Syria's main allies. He is also giving full support to Israel, which is ratcheting up its siege on Gaza, with terrible humanitarian consequences.
Trump talks about not wanting to see innocent civilians killed, but is responsible for intensifying the bombing of Mosul in the conflict with ISIS. This bombing is leading to hundreds of civilian deaths, as is the bombing in the Syrian city of Raqqa. In recent weeks, conflict between the major powers is growing, with the US shooting down a Syrian plane in Syria, and Russia now tearing up coordination agreements with the US.
We want to see an end to the war in Syria, and condemn the bombings on all sides, Russian and Syrian, US and British. This will not be achieved through further intervention, but by genuine attempts to win a peace which benefits the people of the region who are suffering so much.
We will be joining the People's Assembly demonstration this Saturday to urge the British government - now propped up by the right-wing DUP - to end its interventions in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and to refuse to follow Trump in this latest drive to more war.
Stop the War was founded in September 2001 in the weeks following 9/11, when George W. Bush announced the "war on terror". Stop the War has since been dedicated to preventing and ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere. Stop the War opposes the British establishment's disastrous addiction to war and its squandering of public resources on militarism. We have initiated many campaigns around these issues.
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Eric Adams Drops Out of NYC Mayor Race in Face of Trump Pressure to Stop Mamdani
"Donald Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo's actions but they will not dictate the results of this election," Mamdani said in response to the news.
Sep 28, 2025
Following pressure to drop out of the mayoral race from the Trump administration and business leaders, current New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Sunday that he would end his bid to seek reelection.
Adams was running as an Independent against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also running as an Independent; Republican Curtis Sliwa; and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist whose victory in the Democratic primary has spooked moneyed interests and right-wing politicians including US President Donald Trump.
"Donald Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo's actions but they will not dictate the results of this election," Mandani said in response to the news. "New York deserves better than trading in one disgraced, corrupt politician for another. On November 4, we are going to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas and deliver a government every New Yorker can be proud of."
Adams' term as mayor was marked by scandal. He was charged with bribery, wire fraud, and soliciting illegal campaign donations from foreign parties by the federal government in 2024 only to have the charges dropped by Trump's Department of Justice in 2025 so that Adams could focus on facilitating Trump's anti-immigrant crackdown. The incident raised concerns among New Yorkers that Adams was beholden to the president.
"Despite all we've achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign," Adams said in a video posted on social media Sunday. "The constant media speculation about my future and the Campaign Finance Board's decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign."
Adams had faced pressure to bow out of the race so that Cuomo would be the only centrist candidate, in a bid to hinder Mamdani's pathway to victory. His announcement comes weeks after the news broke that Trump administration officials were weighing offering jobs to Adams and Sliwa in order to boost Cuomo.
In his video, Adams did not endorse any other candidate by name, but appeared to warn against Mamdani.
“Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer [is] to destroy the very system we built over generations,” he said. “That is not change, that is chaos. Instead, I urge leaders to choose leaders not by what they promise, but by what they have delivered."
Cuomo praised Adams for his decision, saying, "I believe he is sincere in putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition. We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them."
However, it is unclear how much Adams' departure will actually help Cuomo, as he was polling at less than 10% and, as the Associated Press noted, there is no guarantee that enough of his supporters would switch their allegiance to Cuomo to make a difference.
Mandani has run a popular campaign focused on lowering the cost of living in New York City, including proposals such as free busses, city-run grocery stores, and universal childcare.
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Underreported Memo Is 'Declaration of War' Against Trump Opponents
"By targeting beliefs and protest activity, the directive positions dissent itself as a potential crime," one news organization said.
Sep 28, 2025
In between his highly publicized designation of Antifa as a domestic terror organization and his indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, US President Donald Trump signed a little-reported national security memorandum that gives law enforcement new tools to target his critics.
Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) on Thursday. The directive, titled "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence," focuses exclusively on "anti-fascist" or left-wing activities, and mandates a "national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts."
"I don’t want to sound hyperbolic but the plain truth is that NSPM-7 is a declaration of war on anyone who does not support the Trump administration and its agenda," journalist Ken Klippenstein wrote in a piece raising alarm about the directive on Saturday.
Klippenstein argued that the memorandum was worrying on several fronts. For one, its focus on preventing crimes before they are committed opens the door to rights violations.
"In other words, they’re targeting pre-crime, to reference Minority Report," Klippenstein wrote.
For another, the memorandum casts a very wide net, targeting groups, individuals, funders, and "entities" and listing several protected beliefs as "indicia" of extremism.
These include:
- "Anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity;
- Support for the overthrow of the United States Government;
- Extremism on migration, race, and gender; and
- Hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality."
What's more, the memorandum entrusts enforcement to the FBI's over 4,000-strong Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF), which removes the legal challenges to directing the National Guard or other military forces to quash domestic dissent.
"For the Trump White House, the beauty of using an already existing network is that it bypasses Congressional oversight and scrutiny and even obscures federal activity to governors and legislatures at the state level," Klippenstein wrote.
The types of activities that will be targeted are also quite broad, with the document defining "organized doxing campaigns, swatting, rioting, looting, trespass, assault, destruction of property, threats of violence, and civil disorder" as "domestic terrorist acts."
The memorandum also targets any individual or group who might fund activity the administration deems terrorism and directs the Internal Revenue Service to "take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism," which could be a means of threatening the status of nonprofits.
Finally, as Drop Site News pointed out, the memo authorizes the attorney general to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations for the first time in US history.
"By targeting beliefs and protest activity, the directive positions dissent itself as a potential crime," Drop Site wrote.
The Trump administration's focus on violence associated with left-wing beliefs and groups is not supported by the facts. National Institute of Justice data found that right-wing violence had led to 520 deaths since 1990 compared with 78 deaths due to left-wing violence. However, the administration removed that study from the Department of Justice website shortly after Charlie Kirk was killed, The Guardian reported earlier this month.
The administration's efforts, while accelerated, build on processes that began during the US response to the September 11 attacks, as Klippenstein explained:
A “pre-crime” endeavor, preventing attacks before they happen, is core to the post-9/11 concept of counterterrorism itself. No longer satisfied to investigate acts of terrorism after the fact to bring terrorists to justice, the Bush administration adopted preemption. Overseas, that led to aerial assassination by drones and “special operations” kill missions. Domestically, it led to a counter-terrorism campaign whose hallmark was excessive and illegal government surveillance and the use of undercover agents and “confidential human sources” to trap (and entrap) would-be terrorists.
However, the Trump administration is expanding the War-on-Terror mandate with fewer guardrails.
"Now, with Donald Trump’s directive retooling the counter-terror apparatus to go after Americans at home, this means monitoring political activity, or speech, as an investigative method to discover 'radicalism,'" Klippenstein said, noting that the NSPM-7 breaks with post-Watergate national security documents by failing to mention the First Amendment rights to protest and organize.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is already eager to make use of the document.
"We are witnessing domestic terrorist sedition against the federal government," he wrote on social media on Friday. "The JTTF has been dispatched by the Attorney General, pursuant to NSPM-7. All necessary resources will be utilized."
In an interview with Greg Sargent for the New Republic, Trump ally Steve Bannon confirmed that Miller and others in the administration were preparing to go after left-liberal groups and media whose criticism of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could be interpreted as "goading" on violence against the agency.
Referring to Miller's comments that calling ICE authoritarian incited violence and terrorism, Bannon responded, “Stephen Miller is correct—more importantly he’s in charge.”
The threats of investigations put liberal and left-leaning organizations in a tough place. On the one hand, they want to prepare as best they can. On the other, they do not want to obey in advance.
"Officials at these groups tell me they must strike a balance between being clear-eyed about how bad this could get while not letting it discourage political activity," Sargent wrote. "That latter form of surrender is exactly what Trump and Miller want. And under no circumstances should anybody willingly hand it over to them."
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'An Egregious Abuse of Power': Trump Orders Troops to Portland, Ore; OKs 'Full Force'
"This unilateral action represents an abuse of executive authority, seeks to incite violence, and undermines the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and states," Oregon lawmakers wrote.
Sep 27, 2025
In his latest attempt to turn the US military on an American city, President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he was sending troops to Portland, Oregon and had authorized them to use "Full Force, if necessary."
"At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump's announcement follows his deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, as well as his threats to send the military to Chicago and Memphis. These deployments have been widely condemned and legally challenged as a massive overreach of executive authority.
Portland and Oregon leaders were no less vehement in their opposition to Trump's order for their city.
"Trump is plunging further into authoritarianism every single day."
"President Trump has directed 'all necessary Troops' to Portland, Oregon. The number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and any other American city," Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in a statement on Saturday. "Our nation has a long memory for acts of oppression, and the president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it."
Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said that she had not been informed ahead of time of any reason for the deployment of federal troops.
"In my conversations directly with President Trump and Secretary Noem, I have been abundantly clear that Portland and the State of Oregon believe in the rule of law and can manage our own local public safety needs," she wrote on social media. "There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security."
Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) said in a statement: “The President of the United States is directing his self-proclaimed ‘Secretary of War’ to unleash militarized federal forces in an American city he disagrees with. This is an egregious abuse of power and a betrayal of our most basic American values."
“Authoritarians rely on fear to divide us," she continued. "Portland will not give them that. We will not be intimidated. We have prepared for this moment since Trump first took office, and we will meet it with every tool available to us: litigation, legislation, and the power of peaceful public pressure."
Dexter also posted a photograph of a tranquil park on social media, mocking the idea that Portland was a war zone.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) adopted a similar strategy, posting videos of downtown Portland and of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that has been the site of protests Trump has characterized as out-of-control.
Dexter and Wyden were among the seven members of Oregon's congressional delegation who sent a letter to Trump, Noem, and Hegseth on Saturday urging them to reconsider.
"Portland is a vibrant and peaceful city, and does not require any deployment of federal troops or additional federal agents to keep our community safe," the lawmakers wrote. "This unilateral action represents an abuse of executive authority, seeks to incite violence, and undermines the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and states. We urge you to rescind this decision, and withdraw any military personnel and federal agents you have recently sought to deploy."
As of Saturday, Oregon National Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar told The Associated Press in an email that “no official requests have been received at this time.” However, Oregon officials noted an uptick in the presence of federal agents and armored vehicles in Portland on Friday.
In a press conference Friday evening, Mayor Wilson suggested that the deployment was a "distraction" from the looming GOP-driven government shutdown.
"Imagine if the federal government sent instead 100 teachers or 100 engineers or 100 addiction specialists," Wilson said.
Earlier in the week, Trump also smeered Portland protesters as “professional agitators and anarchists," according to the Portland Tribune.
“We’re going to get out there and we’re going to do a pretty big number on those people in Portland,” Trump said.
The federal deployment threatens to reopen wounds from 2020, when Portland was the site of massive protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd and the first Trump administration sent federal and border agents to the city.
As the Oregon lawmakers wrote:
Portland residents experienced the consequences of an unnecessary and outrageous federal deployment five years ago. In summer of 2020, the White House unleashed federal agents on Portland like an occupying army, complete with military-grade equipment and violent tactics that were utterly unacceptable on American soil. A federal agent shot a peaceful protester in the head with a crowd-control munition, sending the man to the hospital with a fractured skull. Federal agents were captured on video jumping out of unmarked vans and grabbing people off the streets without explanation. A county commissioner was tear gassed along with other non-violent protestors. A Navy veteran was filmed being beaten by federal agents after he questioned them about their actions. These examples, and many more that occurred in Portland, demonstrate that the federal agents who were parachuted into Portland incited violence and trampled over the constitutional rights of Americans. There is no question that another deployment by your administration will result in similar abuses.
However, the risks of abuses are perhaps even higher as the second Trump administration has designated "antifa," which is not an actual, coherent group, as a domestic terrorist organization, a dubious legal move that experts warn is an attempt to restrict the First Amendment rights of leftists and others critical of the administration.
"If ever there was a time not to normalize Trump’s authoritarian fever dreams, this is it," said journalist Mehdi Hasan on social media. "This should be impeachable. ‘War ravaged’ Portland? He’s insane—& insanely power hungry. The script is set—call an imaginary group a terror group and then send in the troops."
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) urged his constituents not to give Trump the confrontation he is clearly seeking.
"Trump is sending troops to Portland with the goal of 'doing a number' on the city. We know what this means. He wants to stoke fear and chaos and trigger violent interactions and riots to justify expanded authoritarian control," he said in a video posted on social media. "Let’s not take the bait! Portland is peaceful and strong and we will take care of each other."
Other advocates and lawmakers also took issue with Trump's characterization of Portland.
Human Rights lawyer Qasim Rashid pointed out that Portland had actually experienced the most dramatic drop in homicides among all US cities during the first half of 2025.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the description of Portland as "war ravaged" was "delusional and dangerous."
"Sending troops into American cities doesn't make our communities safer—it just stokes fear and stirs up chaos," she wrote on social media. "Trump is plunging further into authoritarianism every single day."
Civil rights lawyer and author Alec Karakatsanis said that the mainstream media needed to reflect on how its reporting had enabled Trump's false narrative about Portland.
"This kind of outrageous misinformation would not be possible without the culture of fear spread for years by the mainstream media," Karakatsanis wrote on social media. "He is playing on the prodigious ignorance and irrational fear cultivated by the way the news media distorts our sense of safety."
"Portland, needless to say, is nothing remotely like what Trump describes," he continued. "But the mass media has created an entirely delusional public perception of what threats we face and from whom."
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