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LINCOLN — As Nebraska’s all-Republican federal delegation supports President Donald Trump’s U.S. war with Iran, some Democrats and at least one non-partisan candidate who are challenging them have criticized Trump’s decision to strike Iran.
Trump said Monday he expects the war with Iran will continue for however long it takes to achieve his objectives, which include eliminating the country’s missile program, preventing its leaders from building a nuclear weapon and ensuring the Iranian state does not fund international terrorism.
Most of the seven-candidate Democratic primary to represent the Omaha area in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District expressed disapproval of the strikes on Iran, while also criticizing the Iranian government and its leaders.
Business owner and political action committee co-founder Denise Powell said, “Donald Trump has thrust the U.S. into a foreign conflict without the approval or input of Congress.”
“The American people are tired of forever wars,” she said. “Now is not the time for another one. The Iranian regime has committed atrocities, from supporting proxy paramilitaries that attack the U.S. and allies to massacring tens of thousands of its own citizens for peacefully protesting, I hope it is overthrown by the Iranian people,” Powell said.
Powell said, “Our sons and daughters should not die for another Middle East war.”
The death toll for American service members had risen to six as of Tuesday. The Associated Press reported Sunday that the troops were U.S. Army soldiers deployed to Kuwait.
State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha said the Trump administration has put “service members and US military bases in the region in danger,” and Trump owes “Americans and Congress an explanation of exactly why we are engaging in this conflict.”
“Let me be clear, the current leaders in Iran are bad people: They sponsor terror and have been responsible for the deaths of Americans, but Congress should have a voice before we commit our nation to war. I remain suspicious of Donald Trump’s judgment and motives,” Cavanaugh said in a statement.
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In a Monday morning briefing, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hinted at the possibility of troops on the ground in Iran. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the U.S. had to strike Iran because Israel was going to Iran on its own.
Douglas County District Court Clerk Crystal Rhoades said, “Whether or not that justifies military action by the United States remains to be seen … Congress must demand a full accounting of the intelligence used by the Trump administration to determine if they should authorize ongoing funding and support to this war effort.”
“Iran is an oppressive regime hostile to American interests and the world’s largest supporter of state-sponsored terrorism … Over decades, war powers have slowly and steadily transferred from Congress to the president, removing Congress from the meaningful execution of checks and balances. Congress must do its job and thoughtfully determine whether this war advances American interests and national security,” Rhoades said.
Nebraskans in Congress pray, support troops as U.S., Israel attack Iran
Navy veteran Kishla Askins said, “The American people deserve transparency about how we arrived at this moment.”
“A shift to direct military action is a profound decision. The administration must explain what changed, what objectives are being pursued, what the defined end state is, and what specific threat to Americans or U.S. national security required this escalation,” Askins said.
Former congressional staffer James Leuschen said, “Trump promised to lower costs, make our communities safe and end foreign wars.”
“The Iranian regime is the chief sponsor of global terrorism and poses a significant threat to the U.S. and our allies and can never develop nuclear capabilities,” Leuschen said, “The Trump administration must produce its strategic objectives for this fight and its plan for ending it, as well as for the succession of power in Iran after Khamenei’s fanatical and dangerous regime. He owes that to our servicemembers and to the American people.”
Nonpartisan U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn, a Navy veteran, who faces Nebraska Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, said, “We need to rethink our priorities as a nation to put our citizens first.”
“Every family with a loved one in the Middle East deserves to know they were sent there by leaders who exhausted every option before putting their child in harm’s way,” Osborn said.
Osborn said he has a nephew stationed in Qatar. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, at the briefing with Hegseth, said more U.S. troops and airpower were expected to arrive in the region Monday.
In eastern Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, Former U.S. State Department diplomat Chris Backemeyer, who is running as a Democrat against Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, said “Americans don’t want war with Iran.”
“We’ve seen this playbook before: claims of urgency, misrepresented intelligence, and military action that risks dragging our country into an unnecessary and costly conflict,” Backemeyer said. “The administration must clearly explain its strategy, the risks involved, how those risks will be mitigated, and the likelihood of success, something it should have done well before taking military action.”
Backemeyer previously worked for the State Department in Washington, D.C., for 20 years, with a focus on counterterrorism, economic policy and the Middle East. One of Backemeyer’s areas of emphasis as a diplomat was Iran. He was a senior State Department negotiator for President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal in 2015.
Trump backed out of the deal in 2018. Trump said on social media Monday that Iran would have gotten a nuclear weapon under that deal.
Another Democratic candidate in the 1st District, renewable energy advocate Eric Moyer, said, “There has been no case made for war in Iran … this is an illegal war,” in a video posted on social media.
In polling on the operation, about one in four Americans has said they approve of Trump’s order to strike Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. A CNN poll said 59% of Americans disapprove of it and expect a long-term conflict.
