Warner: Virginia families ask, why the war on Iran?

By Dave Ress

In Richmond Times Dispatch

There’s been no intelligence suggesting an imminent threat from Iran, but there are some indications that the leadership that could take power after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei could be even more brutal, said Sen. Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

And he said that what he is hearing suggests the war could go on for weeks.

Warner, in Richmond to present a federal grant for SupportWorks Housing's newest supportive housing project for homeless individuals, was on his way back to Washington from Hampton Roads, home to thousands of sailors currently deployed near Iran.

“I spent the weekend in Hampton Roads in Virginia Beach, in Chesapeake, in Norfolk, where over half the audiences had friends or family that were deployed on the (nuclear aircraft carrier USS Gerald R.) Ford or any of the other ships that are in the region,” Warner said.

“When they say, 'Why is my son and daughter potentially in harm's way? What was the driving factor? What was the immediacy?' I had no answer,” he said.

“If there was not an imminent threat, this is Donald Trump's war of choice, and if he's chosen to put Americans in harm's way, into war, his words war, not some military action, then he's got to come to Congress … and I sure as hell wish he would go down to Hampton Roads and explain to the parents and family members of the sailors who were deployed in the region what his goal was and why they're in harm's way," Warner said.

The briefings the Senate committee has been getting in recent weeks said there was no immediate threat to the United States or its allies in the region, Warner said.

“Most of the intelligence we had was that if the senior Iranian leadership was eliminated, that the people who may come next may even be ... harder or more draconian than even the current version and again, at this point, at least, because, without consultation, Donald Trump owns this war. It's a war of his choice,” Warner said.

“I just pray it doesn’t spiral out of control,” he said.

Warner said one threat may have heightened, however.

“Iran has got proxies, proxies in the region, that could attack, but also my fear, as well, is what happens if there is ... somebody inspired by this attack that might make an attack, a domestic terrorist attack,” he said.

“Do the American people really think that we're fully protected against the potential for terrorist attack in this country with this kind of incompetent leadership? I don't think so,” he said, after mentioning FBI director Kash Patel’s firing of counterterrorism agents and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s continued focus on false charges that the 2020 election was rigged.

Warner said Trump has never made clear what his objectives were in warring on Iran.

“Last week, the president initially said we wanted to go after Iran's nuclear capabilities. In the middle of the week, he was going after Iran's missile capacity. At the end of the week, it was regime change. And so which of those reasons are important enough to have American troops in arms?” he said.

“The Iranian people rose up in record numbers in January against this dreadful regime. if the president had chosen to strike at that point, I could at least understand, but the ugly truth is, the president couldn't strike at that point … He had a key aircraft carrier, Ford, off the coast of Venezuela on part of another one of his military forays. And the allies that we would have in the region, particularly the Europeans, in early January, were appropriately concerned about the President's plans to take over Greenland,” Warner said.

“This scattershot approach of foreign policy doesn't make America stronger,” he added.

While in Richmond, Warner presented a check for $500,000 for SupportWorks’ project to build 60 units for homeless people, topping off the $10 million Richmond, Henrico County and Chesterfield County have put up to get the work off to a fast start.

Raising funds for affordable housing usually requires months of asking many potential donors and lenders, while federal and local government committees have gotten that effort off to a fast track, moving the start of construction up by several months to sometime in 2027. So far, SupportWorks has lined up $13.5 million of the $18.5 million project cost and has received support from Richmond Behavioral Health Authority for some essential support services, which have been instrumental to its track record of securing permanent housing for 96% of the people it helps.

“There was a time in my life when I was homeless, … I woke up with fear, I went to sleep with shame, and somewhere along the way, I started believing that was all my life was. The hardest part wasn't sleeping on the couch or knowing where my next meal was. It was feeling completely hopeless,” said Jaya Frye, an internal case worker at SupportWorks New Clay apartments.

“Having housing changed everything for me. For the first time in a long time, I had a door I could close. I had a bed that was mine. I had a safe place to breathe, and when you don't have housing, it's almost impossible to focus on healing, but when I got the stability, I finally found foundation to rebuild my life,” she said.

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