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For Immediate Release
August, 30 2017, 03:45pm EDT
Contact:
Email:,press@veteransforpeace.org
Veteran Organization Condemns Trump Administration Announcement to Further Militarize the Police
St. Louis, MO
Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration will lift limits on the 1033 program to once again allow local police departments access to surplus military equipment such as grenade launchers, high caliber weapons, tracked vehicles that look like tanks and bayonets.
Veterans For Peace condemns the Trump administration's choice to allow more combat equipment to be transferred from the Pentagon to domestic police forces. As veterans who have used military equipment to train for war and in combat, we know that there is a tremendous difference between the tools used by warriors in combat and the equipment we want to see as citizens on our streets and in our neighborhoods used by those who interact with us and are charged to serve us. We call for the immediate suspension of the 1033 program and for all equipment meant specifically for war like MRAPs, tracked vehicles, grenade launchers and high caliber weapons - 50 caliber and above, to be immediately returned to the Pentagon. The militarization of the police has aggravated an already deep division between police and citizens in many communities across the nation. It has contributed to many police departments taking on an us vs. them mentality, leaving some communities to feel like the police are an occupying force. Police forces have used this kind of equipment to intimidate citizens exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, to assemble and to petition the government for redress.
Trump's July 28th "Please don't be too nice," statement when addressing law enforcement on Long Island NY was a comparatively innocuous prelude to this new policy of releasing more equipment meant for war into our communities. His words appear to condone police brutality and now his directive to place combat weapons in the hands of police while reducing and in many places ending Justice Department efforts at accountability send a clear signal that police can act violently with impunity.
The Trump Doctrine is one of divide and conquer through hate. Trump's words and policies are an extension of a deeply racists, xenophobic and fear based worldview.
To act this way in the wake of the tragedy in Charlottesville and the rise of hate in our nation makes it clear that the president has no intention of working to improve police and community relations nor in taking concrete steps to bring people together. In fact, he has thrown gas on a smoldering fire by embracing revisionist history, claiming that someone wants to take, "our history." Who is "our"? He speaks as if the history of the U.S. belongs to one group and is not a collective story, as if all the people in the United States are not part of the triumphs, challenges and failures of this nation.
Trump's words and actions call on us to act. We must all act to weave the social fabric of this nation into a tapestry where everyone is valued and can equally participate. The healing we need does not being with combat weapons. It begins with peace building at home and abroad, acceptance of each other, economic investment in people and environmental protection.
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
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The Trump administration is reportedly considering sending 10,000 additional US troops to the Middle East amid mounting fears of an invasion of Iran, which is mobilizing its forces ahead of a possible ground assault.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the new US troop deployment "would likely include infantry and armored vehicles" and "would be added to the roughly 5,000 Marines and the thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division who have already been ordered to the region." The US Central Command has said roughly 50,000 American troops are currently stationed in the Middle East.
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Trump has FAILED at his obligations to America’s #seniors. The president has actively broken his promises to stop inflation, not to touch #SocialSecurity, and to "leave #Medicaid alone." READ the minority report of the Senate Committee on Aging HERE::: www.gillibrand.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
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— NCPSSM (@ncpssm.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Gillibrand said in a statement introducing the report that it "shows that instead of fighting for seniors, the president has attacked the very programs that help them stay afloat."
Republicans' so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law last July, ushered in the biggest cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in US history.
Gillibrand's report "focuses on eight harms that represent the Trump administration’s failure to support seniors during his first year in office."
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Other Democratic members of Congress including Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Reps. Melanie Stansbury (NM) and John Larson (NJ) pointed out how Trump administration policies—including those mentioned in this piece and others like the billion-dollar-per-day war on Iran—are harming seniors by spending money that could have been allocated for their benefit or, in the case of Stansbury, by noting GOP attacks on mail-in voting, upon which many seniors rely.
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— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) March 26, 2026 at 9:03 AM
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Citing an Iranian senior political-security official, state-run Press TV reported Wednesday that Iran had rejected Trump's 15-point plan and had a list of five conditions for ending the conflict: a halt to assassinations, concrete mechanisms to ensure that the war is not reimposed, reparations for damages, an end to the war across all fronts and for all resistance groups involved throughout the region, and recognition of Iran sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
As The Associated Press reported Thursday:
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview on state TV that his government has not engaged in talks to end the war and does not plan to. He said the US had tried to send messages to Iran through other nations, "but that is not a conversation nor a negotiation."
Egypt is also acting as a go-between, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, who said Thursday that his country sees a desire from both sides "for calm, for the exploration of negotiations."
Throughout the week, fears of Trump pursuing a ground invasion of Iran have also mounted, intenstifying pressure on congressional Democrats to force another vote on a war powers resolution intended to end the president's unauthorized Operation Epic Fury before the upcoming two-week recess.
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