{"id":47570,"date":"2026-04-08T12:08:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47570"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:08:06","slug":"aoc-among-lawmakers-saying-us-troops-must-disobey-trump-order-to-destroy-iranian-civilization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/aoc-among-lawmakers-saying-us-troops-must-disobey-trump-order-to-destroy-iranian-civilization\/","title":{"rendered":"AOC Among Lawmakers Saying US Troops \u2018Must Disobey\u2019 Trump Order to Destroy Iranian Civilization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Artificial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attends a news conference in Washington, DC on March 25, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can still stop this,\u201d said one think tank.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 07, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As US lawmakers and the international community registered President Donald Trump\u2019s threat to commit genocide<\/a> in Iran on Tuesday, rights advocates demanded action from Trump\u2019s Cabinet<\/a>, congressional leaders<\/a>, and the country\u2019s European allies<\/a> to take action\u2014while US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> issued a reminder that the president can be stopped by a lack of action as well, if those in the US military<\/a> chain of command refuse to carry out his orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s threat to wipe out Iran\u2019s civilization of 93 million people \u201cmerits removal from office,\u201d said<\/a> Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). \u201cTo every individual in the president\u2019s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Iranian American Group: Congress Must Use \u2018All Tools\u2019 to Probe Trump Assault on Civilians<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Interview<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All Nations, World Bodies \u2018Must Urgently Intervene\u2019 to Stop Trump From Wiping Out Iran: Amnesty<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also addressed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose chairman, Dan Caine, has been joining Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in briefings recently as Hegseth has made bellicose threats against Iran and portrayed<\/a> the unprovoked US-Israeli assault as a holy war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lieu reminded the top military leaders that the Uniform Code of Military Justice<\/a> (UCMJ) and federal law<\/a> prohibit war crimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously eradicating a whole civilization constitutes a war crime. You must disobey that order,\u201d said the congressman. \u201cIf you commit war crimes, the next administration will prosecute you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik Sperling, executive director of think tank Just Foreign Policy, called on Senate and House Democrats<\/a>, including those on committees that oversee the armed services and foreign relations, to make Lieu\u2019s threat \u201cabsolutely clear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can still stop this,\u201d said Just Foreign Policy on\u00a0social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/ErikSperling\/status\/2041549314216931446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2041549314216931446%7Ctwgr%5E574c9daca52268bd1cc50893b2db89cf2011abb8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrump-war-crime<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News added<\/a> that federal laws prohibiting war crimes \u201cwill apply in January 2029,\u201d after Trump is out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Trump took office for his second term in January 2025, Democratic lawmakers have previously issued reminders to the US military that the UCMJ prohibits service members from carrying out illegal orders, with six House members and senators releasing<\/a> a video in November\u2014as the Pentagon<\/a> was continuing its bombings of boats<\/a> in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean and threatening to attack Venezuela\u2014to remind them, \u201cYou must refuse illegal orders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) was among the lawmakers who participated in the video. On Tuesday the former CIA<\/a> analyst addressed<\/a> service members across the military once again, warning that \u201ctargeting civilians en masse would be a clear violation of the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Pentagon\u2019s Law of War Manual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf [service members] are today or have been asked to do things that violate the law and their training, it puts them in very real legal jeopardy. I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders,\u201d said Slotkin. \u201cIt\u2019s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops\u2014especially those in command\u2014will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attends a news conference in Washington, DC on March 25, 2026.  (Photo by Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images) \u201cWe can still stop this,\u201d said one think tank. Julia Conley Apr 07, 2026 (CommonDreams.org) As US lawmakers and the international community registered President Donald… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47570"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47571,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47570\/revisions\/47571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}