John,

We have spent decades being told that secret wars and covert operations keep America safe. We were told that what happens overseas stays overseas.

We are now seeing the horrifying proof that this is a lie.

By now you know about the “double-tap” strike ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in early September. You know that he reportedly ordered our military to bomb a boat, wait for survivors to surface, and then bomb them again.



This is not defense. It is a war crime. It is the kind of lawless brutality that breeds generational hatred.

And just days ago, we saw that hatred come home to our capital when two National Guard members were shot in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan soldier who had been resettled in America.

This was not a random act. The shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was a member of a CIA-backed “Zero Unit” death squad in Afghanistan. Recruited by the CIA at age 15. He was trained by our government to commit extrajudicial killings which included frequent massacres of children at religious schools that US and Afghan authorities feared the Taliban would recruit from.



We created him. We trained him in violence, used him for our dirty wars, and then acted surprised when he brought that violence here. This is the price of “forever wars” that Congress refuses to end.

While Trump and Hegseth are busy ordering illegal strikes and bypassing Congress to provoke a regime-change war in Venezuela, we are paying the price for the last twenty years of unchecked militarism at home.

The Constitution is clear: Only Congress has the power to declare war.

We cannot continue to let the Executive Branch run private wars, train secret armies, and commit war crimes in our name. We need to reign in these powers before the next “Zero Unit” tragedy happens—and before Hegseth’s illegal orders drag us into a new catastrophe.

I will fight to do exactly that as the next representative for IL-9. Will you help us send a message that we are done with illegal wars and the violence they bring home, by chipping in $50, $25, or whatever you can spare?

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We can build a future based on diplomacy and law, or we can continue down this path of endless violence. The choice is ours.

In solidarity,

Bushra Amiwala

Democrat for IL-09

Mail checks to:

Bushra for Congress

PO Box 911

Skokie, IL 60076