WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, on Tuesday opposed unauthorized war with Iran at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to stop an unauthorized war with Iran before it starts. A similar amendment garnered a bipartisan majority in the Senate. Several Members of Congress joined the press conference, in addition to NIAC Action, Win Without War, J Street, Peace Action, Ploughshares Fund, Foreign Policy for America, National Security Action, and Friends Committee on National Legislation.

“Remember that there is just a perpetual war motion machine in this town…There is an industry built on intervention in Washington, D.C. There are smart people at these think tanks, but they exist to make the argument that the United States can solve—often with military force—every problem in the world,” said Murphy. “And that doesn't mean that we don't listen to experts. It just means that we remember that there are a lot of people who make a lot of money in this town and across this country when we put our men and women in harm's way. And so it is important that at these moments—when you could have a series of mistakes, of mistaken interpretations, lead to the outbreak of war—that we set a firm line in the sand.”

Full transcript of Murphy’s remarks is below:

“Well, thank you very much Ro. Fantastic to be here with so many peace activists. Thank you to all the organizations for making this moment possible for guiding the House measure to passage.

“I'm glad that we had a good turnout here from the Senate to make it clear that you have friends in the Senate that are going to demand that this legislation and this language, eventually somehow, some way pass the United States Senate and get to the President's desk. Let me just add two quick thoughts.

“First: if others haven't mentioned it before, remember that there is just a perpetual war motion machine in this town. Right. There is an industry built on intervention in Washington, D.C. There are smart people at these think tanks, but they exist to make the argument that the United States can solve—often with military force—every problem in the world. And that doesn't mean that we don't listen to experts. It just means that we remember that there are a lot of people who make a lot of money in this town and across this country when we put our men and women in harm's way. And so it is important that at these moments—when you could have a series of mistakes, of mistaken interpretations, lead to the outbreak of war—that we set a firm line in the sand.

“Second: In about an hour, Senator Romney and I are going to have a hearing on the future of American policy in Iraq. And it is important to remember that while the most dangerous outcome of these mindless escalations with the Iranians that the administration is involved in is war, there are also lots of other deleterious effects to American national security that happened along the way. When we called the Iranian Revolutionary Guard [Corps] a terrorist group, that meant that we could no longer work with Iraqi militias who had any relationship with Iran inside Iraq. It made political reconciliation inside Iraq much harder. It made our diplomats’ and our soldiers’ job that much harder. And it made ISIS’s job even easier inside that country.

“And so when you have this kind of escalation with no end game—first and foremost—the danger is war. But that kind of nonsensical policy has all sorts of bad outcomes along the way.

“And that's why I'm glad to be here, to join in support of this resolution to celebrate its passage in the House and to commit myself along with my colleagues, to bringing it across the finish line in the Senate. Thank you, Representative Khanna.”

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