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As the Trump administration’s war on Iran spirals deeper into civilian bloodshed and media complicity, activists with CODEPINK are demanding answers that Washington and corporate media seem determined to avoid. In this explosive conversation with ScheerPost, CODEPINK organizing director Danaka Katowicz lays out the movement’s growing campaign to force Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to answer for the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, Iran — an attack that reportedly killed more than 168 people, most of them children.
But this interview goes far beyond one atrocity. It exposes a collapsing media system where billionaires, mergers, propaganda, AI warfare, and state violence increasingly operate hand-in-hand. From the Pentagon’s alleged use of AI targeting systems to CNN’s responsibility to confront war crimes instead of sanitizing them, Katowicz argues that ordinary people can no longer afford to remain spectators. As Gaza burns, Iran bleeds, and dissent is criminalized, CODEPINK says the answer is not despair — it’s organizing.
The anti-war group CODEPINK is escalating its campaign against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, Iran reportedly killed over 168 civilians — many of them children — during the opening phase of the Trump administration’s war on Iran.
Speaking with ScheerPost, CODEPINK organizing director Danaka Katowicz accused Hegseth and the Pentagon of evading accountability while major media institutions normalize mass civilian death.
According to Katowicz, Congress immediately demanded answers after the strike: Was AI used to select the target? What civilian mitigation procedures existed? Why was a girls’ school bombed in the first place? But instead of transparency, she says the administration stonewalled.
“Hegseth dodged those questions. He never answered them.”
That refusal sparked CODEPINK’s “Put Hegseth on the Hot Seat” campaign — a public push demanding that major outlets use their access to confront the defense secretary directly on-air.
Katowicz blasted the growing consolidation of corporate media, arguing that mergers and billionaire influence are turning news outlets into extensions of state power rather than institutions of accountability.
“The news is not even the news anymore. It’s just propaganda explaining why all these bad things are happening and why it’s actually fine.”
Throughout the interview, the conversation returned repeatedly to the alleged role of AI-assisted warfare. Joshua Scheer noted that similar targeting systems used in Gaza appear to have migrated into the Iran war — systems critics argue remove human judgment from life-and-death decisions.
The result, he argued, has been “war crime on top of war crime.”
Katowicz said CODEPINK’s disruptions inside congressional hearings are designed not only to confront power directly, but to show ordinary people that resistance is still possible.
“People see that power is being challenged in their face. And that means a lot to people.”
The organization says its long-term strategy goes beyond Washington. Through local chapters, labor organizing, coalition work, and direct action, CODEPINK hopes to build a broader anti-war movement capable of challenging what Scheer described as a “billionaire fascist ecosystem” where media, tech, finance, and militarism increasingly operate together.
Katowicz emphasized that activism cannot remain confined to Congress or social media outrage.
“The revolution isn’t just going to happen in D.C.”
The interview also highlighted CODEPINK’s expanding campaigns around Gaza, Palestine solidarity, labor organizing, and demands for the release of detained Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya.
As public opposition to endless war grows, CODEPINK argues the real battle may now be over whether Americans can still distinguish journalism from propaganda — and whether ordinary people are willing to move from outrage to organized resistance.
After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to answer congressional questions about the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, Iran that reportedly killed 168 people, most of them children. The campaign accuses both the Pentagon and corporate media of shielding war crimes from public accountability while demanding journalists confront Hegseth directly on-air about civilian deaths, AI targeting systems, and America’s expanding wars.
As the death toll from America’s war on Iran continues to rise, CODEPINK activists are escalating direct confrontations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing the Trump administration of enabling war crimes while corporate media looks the other way. During a fiery disruption of a congressional hearing, activists denounced Hegseth as a “War Crimes Secretary,” demanding answers for the Minab school massacre, alleged AI-assisted targeting of civilians, and what they describe as a criminal war machine operating with total impunity.
What a difference a decade makes as a resurfaced 2016 video of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is fueling new controversy as questions mount over alleged unlawful killings carried out under his watch. I
Hegseth facing mounting criticism over the administration’s widening wars and increasingly incendiary rhetoric. During a tense congressional hearing, Rep. Sara Jacobs directly questioned whether President Donald Trump was mentally fit to command the U.S. military after threatening that an entire “civilization will die tonight” if Iran refused a deal.
I end with Hegseth’s own words and hypocrisy
“If you’re doing something completely unlawful and ruthless, there is a consequence for that. That’s why the military says it will not follow unlawful orders from the commander-in-chief. There’s a standard, an ethos, a belief that we are above the kinds of actions carried out by our enemies.”
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