First Draft: I Went to the Congressional Memorial for the Massacred Iranian Schoolgirls. Only 9 Members Showed Up
Politicians are behaving chillingly ordinary after the US killed 160+ children, the Pentagon seeks $200 billion more for the Iran war, and Markwayne Mullin has a bumpy hearing.
On this day in 2003, airstrikes by a US and UK-led coalition signaled the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion. Good thing we’re learning from history.
Good morning. Prem here. I have a lot to share with you today about the atmosphere on Capitol Hill amid the fallout of a horrific US war crime. It’s difficult to understand the immensity of this unless someone explains it to you clearly – and the mainstream media unfortunately fails at adequately doing so.
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In today’s ‘First Draft’: an inside look at Capitol Hill after the US strike on a Minab girls’ school. Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin has a rocky hearing as he vies to be the new Department of Homeland Security chief. And Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner responds to controversial comments from his past.
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The Banality of Evil
I began my Wednesday on Capitol Hill looking at 168 pairs of shoes and backpacks representing the children the Trump-Vance administration just killed in Iran. I ended it with a Republican looking me in the face, shrugging at the crime, and treating the victims like fiction.
Early Wednesday, members of Congress attended a memorial honoring the over 160 children reportedly killed by a US strike on the first day of its joint war with Israel against Iran.
Only 9 members came. Out of 532.
I will grant that 121 members of Congress have joined a letter calling for an investigation into the US strike on the Minab girls’ school.
“Our government may have done something terrible. We want the truth.”
But what’s a letter?
And even then, only a fifth of Congress put their name on a letter saying as much. Less than half the Democratic caucus. Zero Republicans.
Nevertheless, the memorial was heart-wrenching.
Organizers told me that many shoes were donated by families who wanted their children’s old shoes to become something more than just used goods. Some came from thrift stores; one apparently slashed the prices even further when they learned what they were being used for.
Humanity, amid a drought of it.
I spoke with several members of Congress in attendance. Rep. Jim McGovern slammed the “Epstein Class” for carrying out a war that the rest of Americans would have to bear the brunt of – whether by cost, participation, their lives, or in spirit.
“The bottom line is, young school girls got blown up by a US bomb, I mean that’s a war crime,” he said, aghast. “Republican members are afraid of Trump; they’re afraid to say anything. Quietly, they’re stunned by the cost of this war – Trump told them it was going to be over in a day or two, and it’s been weeks now, there’s no end in sight.”
Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari – the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress – concurred, sharing an inside look at Republican behavior: “Even when we’re in the context of briefings on this issue, there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of clapping for the administration that takes place when we’re getting responses that are incoherent and do not actually even reference intelligence.”
Asked about the Republican response to the strike, Illinois Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia put it straightforwardly: “Shameful. Painful. History will not be kind to us.”
“We know what the weapon was. We manufacture it here. We bear responsibility. It is immoral to delay, or to try to deny, or to fabricate that someone else did it. It is a war crime. And we need to acknowledge it. And we need to seek forgiveness for it. The best way to do that is by ending this war.”
The gravity of the event was jarring, in one sense, because it wasn’t widely attended. A memorial honoring one of the most horrific US war crimes in modern history had about 30 people in attendance at once. But perhaps that most honestly memorialized the attack. A moving attempt to place a physical display of criminality at the footsteps of where the crime originates: a building where politicians mill around as if it’s just another day, as if the screams of an Iranian child are as detectable as a momentary gust of wind.
And that harsh contrast was all the more evident as I departed. After the House finished voting for the day, I ran into Utah Republican Rep. Burgess Owens and asked him how Congress was responding to the strike. “I don’t know,” he said plainly.
I then asked how the US should respond. He then asked me, a journalist who has no power over foreign policy, how I am responding to the Iranian government killing what he said was 40,000 people. Here’s the interaction:
Minutes later, Senator Lindsey Graham took to the Senate floor to speak in support of the war.
He said the best way to support service members was to have them “finish the job,” no matter, apparently, the cost.
“American people: there’s going to be some pain. The region: you’re going to get hit again. We’ve lost soldiers. God bless them. God bless the wounded, couple hundred. And casualties may increase.”
Shortly thereafter, the news broke: Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon wants $200 billion more for the war.
I began the day at a harrowing tribute to the worst of our capabilities. I ended it witnessing one Republican consider dead children as fodder for a debate, and another treat service members as chess pieces and Iranian civilians as even less.
The drums of war banged loudly. The victims’ screams echoed into oblivion.
🇮🇷 Iran War Updates
Death tolls:
Iran: Iranian officials said last week that at least 1,444 people have been killed and nearly 20,000 injured in the US-Israeli strikes – the latest updated figures from the country. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency today put the death toll at more than 3,000, including over 1,369 civilian deaths.
Lebanon: Israel has killed at least 968 people, including more than 115 children, in Lebanon, according to yesterday’s figures from the country’s Health Ministry.
US troops: At least 13 US troops have died in incidents related to the war.
Israel: At least 15 have been killed and thousands of others injured in Iranian and Hezbollah attacks in Israel.
Elsewhere in the region: Dozens of others have been killed across the region.
And in more Iran war news…
Trump criticizes Israel, but threatens Iran: Trump claimed the US knew nothing about Israel’s attack yesterday on Iran’s South Pars gas field. Israel “violently lashed out,” Trump said. The Israeli attack prompted Iran to strike energy sites across the Gulf, including in Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Trump warned, “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL” on South Pars unless Iran attacked Qatar’s energy sites again, which would prompt the US to “massively blow up the entirety” of the gas field.
Oil prices soar: The attacks on Gulf oil facilities sent the price of Brent crude soaring to $118 a barrel before settling at about $107.
Revenge vow: Paying tribute to Ali Larijani, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council secretary killed on Tuesday, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said: “Every blood has a price that the criminal murderers of the martyrs must soon pay.”
Big budget ask: The US Department of Defense wants the White House to approve a request to Congress for more than $200 billion to fund operations against Iran, the Washington Post reported. One senior official told the paper some Trump officials think Congress will not approve such a figure.
Palestinian women killed in West Bank: Three Palestinian women, including a teenager, were killed when falling shrapnel hit a hair salon near Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The women are the first known Palestinian fatalities in the West Bank related to the US-Israeli war on Iran (Israel blamed an Iranian missile, while Palestinians blamed an errant Israeli aerial defense interceptor). Palestinians in the West Bank do not have the same kinds of warning systems or shelters that Jewish Israelis have.
Lebanon latest: More than 45 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the last 48 hours, the country’s Health Ministry said, as Israel escalates its bombardment and pushes deeper into Lebanon. More than 1 million people have been displaced.
Jones Act waived: Attempting to combat rising prices caused by the war, the Trump administration temporarily waived the 1920 law that requires goods moving between US ports to be carried by ships owned and crewed by Americans. Experts were skeptical, one telling NPR that rocketing gasoline prices are based on world markets and have “nothing to do with the Jones Act.”
Mullin’ a New Gig
Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin testified in front of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday, as he seeks to become the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. It did not go well.
Committee chair Rand Paul set the tone immediately. The Kentucky Republican pressed Mullin on calling him a “freaking snake” in the past, why Mullin could side with Paul’s neighbor, who assaulted him years ago, leaving him with broken ribs, and how the American people could trust him.
“Explain to the American people why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and border patrol agents.”
Paul also questioned Mullin on past comments he made praising an episode in 1856, when pro-slavery Rep. Preston Brooks caned Senator Charles Sumner, crushing his skull and knocking him unconscious. Mullin responded by saying that “dueling with two consenting adults” is still a rule that applies to Congress (a lie, and also an incredible retort in response to the Sumner caning).
Elsewhere, Mullin refused to apologize for saying the killing of Renee Good was justified, and did not apologize for calling Alex Pretti a “deranged individual,” only going as far as to say he regretted saying it.
While Mullin may not be able to count on the support of Paul, he will need just one Democrat to save his bid out of committee. He may be in luck: shortly after Mullin’s nomination was first announced, Fetterman said he planned to vote in favor.
🗞️ What You Need to Know
DNI dodges: In a statement released before a Senate hearing, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard placed herself at odds with Trump, saying strikes last year “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, with “no efforts” made to rebuild. But when Gabbard spoke before the intelligence committee, she left that part out, later claiming to have “skipped” it to save time.
Labor icon accused: The New York Times reported extensive allegations that the labor activist César Chavez, who died in 1993, sexually abused women and girls. Dolores Huerta, 95 and herself a revered labor leader, described being “manipulated and pressured” by Chavez, and “forced against my will.”
Platner responds: The Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner responded to attacks from his opponent, Governor Janet Mills, concerning comments about rape he made on online forums. In a 30-second ad, Platner asked voters “not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago.”
Kashing in: FBI Director Kash Patel told senators his agency is buying information that can be used to track people’s movement and location history, a practice he said was both lawful and producing “valuable intelligence.” Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) accused Patel of “an outrageous end run” around constitutional privacy protections.
🧠 Pop Quiz!
US gas prices have soared by 27% in the past four weeks. In what three states has the price of a gallon of gas increased by more than a dollar?
Keep your eyes out for the answer below!
🌏 Anywhere But America
🇵🇸 Don’t forget Gaza: At least four Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes on Gaza City today. Meanwhile, the Global Sumud Flotilla announced new plans to send its “largest mission yet” to Gaza. The flotilla will include more than 100 boats that will set sail in “parallel with land mobilizations,” with representatives from over 100 countries.
🇦🇫🇵🇰 Temporary truce: Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to temporarily pause the violence that has killed hundreds, to mark Eid al-Fitr. The cessation of hostilities from late Wednesday to midnight Tuesday was requested by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey.
🇸🇩 Over a dozen killed: At least 17 people died, and 123 were wounded amid renewed fighting on the border between Sudan and Chad, Doctors Without Borders said. The Sudanese army has been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.
🇨🇩🇷🇼 Another promise to de-escalate: After meeting for two days in the US, Congolese and Rwandan officials agreed on steps to de-escalate tensions in eastern Congo, where Congolese troops have been fighting rebels backed by Rwanda.
😳 WTF?!
Would you believe us if we told you that this guy used to run the FBI? In fact, he was the agency’s second-in-command…
Trump will literally hire just about anyone these days.
🧠 Trivia answer: New Mexico (+$1.18), Arizona (+$1.17), and Colorado (+$1.06).
ICYMI From Zeteo
Zeteo’s Martin Pengelly and Akshay Gokul contributed to this newsletter.
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Thank you for the article. I was on my way to the SAVE act protest in front of the Senate steps (which I only heard about through word of mouth) but passed the people setting up the memorial on my way. By the time I headed back to the metro, the Capitol Police had made it impossible for me to trace my steps so I took another route back to the metro. It was very heart wrenching and please know it had its effect on me, a serial protester of every outrage. If I had known about the event, I would have attended.
Only 9 turned up for the memorial: chilling. The "shrugger" should be shrugged out of office.