Sixty-six members of About Face: Veterans Against the War and allied groups were arrested during an April 20 peaceful protest at the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. They were protesting President Trump’s illegal war on Iran, citing the human cost, the need to prevent another “endless” conflict and the use of billions of taxpayer dollars for war rather than to meet domestic needs.
The protesters gathered in the middle of the Cannon building rotunda holding red tulips — meant to honor Iranians killed by U.S. airstrikes — and also conducted a flag-folding ceremony meant to symbolize the 13 U.S. troops who have died so far in the war. One of the groups participating in the protest, the Center on Conscience and War, demanded House Speaker Mike Johnson meet with them to accept the folded flag and pledge not to continue congressional funding for the war. The protest was organized against a backdrop of reported U.S. troop deployments to the Middle East and concerns about an escalation in the war.
Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Rebecca Roberts, organizing manager with About Face: Veterans Against the War, who enlisted in the New Jersey Air National Guard in 2012, and who later as a member of the Army National Guard resigned her commission in late 2023 in protest of Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Here she discusses the work she and others do providing guidance to a surge in active-duty U.S. military service members navigating their rights of conscience and seeking conscientious objector status during the current illegal U.S. war on Iran.
REBECCA ROBERTS: So, About Face supports a lot of active military who are questioning their situation. We also speak to military families who reach out through an encrypted form that we have. It’s bit.ly/milrights, bit.ly/milrights. And we connect with those service members who reach out confidentially to educate them on the rights that they do have and to connect them to legal experts. We work with our friends over at Center on Conscience in War and the GI Rights Hotline and several other organizations who provide support for service members looking for what their options are. We also connect them with our own members nearby in their communities because one thing that they risk when seeking out conscientious objector status, for example, is this huge loss of community. Many of us join the military wanting to do something bigger than ourself and to be a part of a community that’s doing the right thing and serving a noble cause and to realize that’s not and to transition out is really difficult without having that support. And so that’s something that in addition to educating and making those legal connections, we also try to provide them community and show them that there’s this whole community of veterans who have been in their position before and who will support them in whatever decision that they make.
SCOTT HARRIS: Rebecca, I wonder if you would tell our audience about any increases you’ve seen in the numbers of service members seeking advice since Donald Trump launched the Iran War on Feb. 28th and what kind of questions are you getting?
REBECCA ROBERTS: We’re definitely seeing an uptick in folks that are reaching out much more frequently than we’ve seen in the past. And we know that this makes sense because there’s really no clear reason for why we’re engaging in this war with Iran. Congress hasn’t approved this war. So imagine folks who are overseas, deployed overseas now are looking back at the US and wondering why is this war happening when all we see is the president and his friends making money off of it, right? They’re asking questions essentially of what their options are, asking about the legality of orders and yeah, really just looking to know what their rights are and to make connections both with the legal support that they need and the community that they need.
SCOTT HARRIS: And the question comes up, what rights do service members really have in objecting to participating in a war they view as illegal and the obstacle to those seeking conscientious objector status? And of course, you also have the question, I’m sure, coming up a lot of consequences. Are there disciplinary actions that a service member may be subjected to if they raise questions about their orders or where the military is being deployed?
REBECCA ROBERTS: That was a question that I found myself asking when I was enlisted. I really didn’t know much about my rights. Even when I commissioned, I knew more, but the conscientious objector process is really stigmatized. There’s a very certain imagery of what that means and maybe that you just weren’t cut out for things. It’s really stigmatized and looked down upon. It’s not supposed to be something where you face disciplinary action or retribution, but unfortunately we’ve seen that that sometimes is the case. It does come at a high cost beyond just being stigmatized and losing the community that you’re a part of. Yeah, there’s the high cost of losing your income and especially if you’re an active duty soldier, you essentially lose your whole life and have to start fresh. And that’s really difficult. And that’s a high cost for folks. It’s a really high bar when they’re thinking about what options they really have.
We are trying to speak out for those who no longer have a voice and also to show that veterans and military members are not okay with this. We want to follow our conscience. We want to see Congress stand up and do their job. We ask, do they want to be remembered as too cowardly to take a stand or do they want to be remembered for actually doing a job, having a conscience and bringing our troops home to protect them?
For more information about Face Veterans Against the War, visit aboutfaceveterans.org.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Rebecca Roberts (17:44) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the related links section of this page. For periodic updates on the Trump authoritarian playbook, subscribe here to our Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine Substack newsletter. Subscribe to our Weekly Summary
