"This War Is Already Lost": Spencer Ackerman & Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi on Trump's Iran Debacle http://www.democracynow.org/2026/4/2/iran_war_trump
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“This War Is Already Lost”: Spencer Ackerman & Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi on Trump’s Iran Debacle
President Donald Trump gave a primetime televised address Wednesday to discuss the war on Iran, his first since the United States and Israel launched attacks on February 28. Trump gave few clues about when or how the war could end, but he boasted about killing top Iranian leaders and degrading the country’s military. He threatened to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages, where they belong.”
Despite the grandiose claims, built on “lies and delusions,” Trump “did not add anything new,” says Iranian American scholar Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, who calls Trump’s shifting justifications an admission of “defeat in the war of narratives.”
We also speak with journalist Spencer Ackerman, who says the U.S. has already lost the war. “Iran has changed the entirety of this conflict,” he says. “It has pivoted this conflict onto its own territory and its own goals, and the United States does not have a military mechanism to redress that, primarily the throttling of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Israel’s Death-by-Hanging Law Marks Further “Dehumanization of Palestinians”: B’Tselem
We speak with Sarit Michaeli from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem following the Knesset’s passage of a new law mandating death by hanging for Palestinians who are convicted of murdering Israelis. Jewish Israelis will not face the same punishment for similar crimes. The law, which further cements Israel’s apartheid system, has drawn condemnation from rights groups and other countries.
“This egregious, draconian law pretends to be somehow … grounded in some sort of objective criteria,” says Michaeli, B’Tselem’s international outreach director. “But essentially, it’s basically specifically written to apply only to Palestinians.”
“Born in the U.S.A.”: Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Ban
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday about President Donald Trump’s attempt to abolish birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Several justices seemed highly skeptical of the administration’s arguments, though a final ruling is not expected for months.
“I think the oral arguments went really well for our side,” says Aarti Kohli, the executive director of the Asian Law Caucus and co-counsel in the Supreme Court case.
We also speak with Norman Wong, a descendant of Wong Kim Ark, whose landmark 1898 Supreme Court case affirmed birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Citing the Bruce Springsteen song, Wong says that being “Born in the U.S.A.” means someone is part of the national community. “We need to stand as Americans together, regardless of color or religion or where we came from,” he says. “We haven’t always gotten it right with all the people here. But that doesn’t mean we should make it worse.”
Headlines for April 02, 2026
Trump Threatens to Bomb Iran “Back to Stone Ages,” Won’t Give Timeline for Ending War; U.K. Hosts Talks with 35 Countries Seeking to Reopen Strait of Hormuz; Iran Continues Drone and Missile Attacks on Gulf Nations and Israel; U.S. Embassy Warns Citizens to Leave Iraq “Now,” Citing Threat of Iran-Backed Militias; NYT: Israel Urges Christian and Druze Communities to Force Shiites Out of Southern Lebanon; Russia Claims Complete Control of Ukraine’s Luhansk Region; House and Senate Republicans Announce Plan to End Partial Shutdown of DHS; SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments on Birthright Citizenship; DACA Recipient Returns to California After Judge Rules She Was Unlawfully Deported to Mexico; Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office Rules Death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam a Homicide; NASA’s Artemis II Launches, Beginning Historic Mission to the Moon
Israel's Death-by-Hanging Law Marks Further "Dehumanization of Palestinians": B'Tselem
"Born in the U.S.A.": Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Trump's Birthright Citizenship Ban
"This War Is Already Lost": Spencer Ackerman & Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi on Trump's Iran Debacle
Top U.S. & World Headlines — April 2, 2026
Immigrant Workers in Colorado Lead “Historic Strike” at JBS, Largest U.S. Meat Processor
More than 3,000 meatpacking workers in Greeley, Colorado, have been on strike since mid-March, the first major labor strike in the U.S. meatpacking industry since 1985. Workers at JBS USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Brazilian-based multinational JBS, are protesting unfair and dangerous labor conditions, including low wages, lack of personal protective gear and discrimination against its majority-immigrant workforce. “This company is one of the richest companies in the world, and the wage increases that they’re offering simply just don’t keep up with the economy and the high cost of living,” says Kim Cordova, president of the union that represents JBS workers in Greeley. “These workers literally feed America,” adds organizer Caitlyn Clark, director at the labor rights nonprofit Essential Workers for Democracy. “This is really a historic strike. These workers are standing up not just for their own plant, but the meatpacking industry as a whole.”
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