Win Without War is a left-leaning advocacy organization that promotes center-left and noninterventionist foreign policy. The organization was founded in 2002 and is a project of left-leaning foreign policy think tank the Center for International Policy. The organization was founded following the September 11^th attacks to oppose wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. ^{1 2}

In 2019, the Center for International Policy founded an educational and research arm for the organization called the Win Without War Education Fund, while keeping Win Without War housed within the parent organization. Win Without War generally supports left-leaning foreign policy and opposes U.S. military actions taken against foreign terrorist groups. ^{1 2}

Background

Win Without War is a project of the Center for International Policy, a left-leaning research and advocacy organization that was founded in the 1970s in opposition to the Vietnam War. Other projects of the Center for International Policy include Mighty Earth, an environmentalist group, and the Security Assistance Monitor, a project tracking U.S. defense and security assistance and grant programs that calls for more oversight of the U.S. military. The Center for International Policy states that Win Without War is a coalition of many national advocacy groups to advance a shared foreign policy agenda. ³

The Center for International Policy founded Win Without War in 2002 with the purpose of opposing the impending invasion of Iraq that became the Iraq War. An initial press release from the founding of the organization referred to the group as a coalition titled Keep America Safe: Win Without War and stated that the organization opposed any type of US strike on Iraq and instead that the United States and United Nations should work to disarm Saddam Hussein through diplomatic means. ⁴

Founding Organizations

Organizations listed as founding members of the organization in 2002 included the National Council of Churches, Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Move On, the National Organization for Women, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Rainbow Push Coalition, Sojourners, Women’s Action for New Directions, and Working Assets. The organization also announced at its founding that it would work closely with United for Peace, another left-leaning group that opposed the Iraq war. ⁴

Activity and Policy Stances

Win Without War publicizes petitions to urge the Biden administration to enact various left-leaning policies such as cancelling oil and gas pipelines and disarming the United States of nuclear weapons. The organization has also urged Congress to cut funding to the Department of Defense and opposes the U.S. selling arms to foreign countries. ⁵

The organization has also launched a petition urging the media to stop interviewing individuals that it describes as “warmongers and war criminals” ⁶

Win Without War also lobbied the Biden Administration to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, joining a coalition alongside left-of-center groups and organizations such as Code Pink, the Daily Kos, Justice Democrats, MoveOn, and the Open Society Foundations. ⁷

In June 2025, Win Without War participated in organizing or supporting protests branded under the “#NoKings” banner, a national day of demonstrations positioned as a defense of democratic norms against President Donald Trump. These events were part of a larger mobilization involving over 70 Democratic Party affiliates and allied organizations across at least 19 U.S. states and multiple international locations, according to publicly available event listings on Mobilize.us, a Democratic Party-aligned organizing platform. ^{8 9}

In September 2025, according to a story by the Daily Caller, Win Without War began distributing flyers in Washington D.C with the website “Not What You Signed Up For” allegedly appealing to members of the National Guard deployed to D.C earlier in the summer under order from President Trump. According to the story, the  website adversities services for National Guard members such as legal counseling on “refusing illegal orders,” advises members to use “a personal device, NOT a military or government computer, email account, phone, or Wi-Fi network” to reach out to the organization, and even advocated they use “encrypted email services, Signal for secure text messages, and a virtual private network (VPN) for browsing to avoid surveillance.” ¹⁰ The website also posted “With President Trump threatening ‘war’ on the city of Chicago and already deploying armed military units into the streets of Los Angeles and D.C., our troops risk being forced into situations that are not legal, that they aren’t trained for, or that violate their conscience.” ¹⁰ Other organizations listed as supporters on the website include About Face, the GI Rights Network, and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), with the site also advertising the NLG’s “Military Law Task” which previously released a statement advertising services to ““help military dissenters resist the Trump agenda.” ¹⁰

A November 2025 post on X (formerly Twitter) by Eric Daugherty claimed that Win Without War had allegedly sent out “scripts” to members of Congress in which they advocate for members of the military to not follow “illegal orders” around the same time the group put up a billboard in North Carolina that stated “Did You Go Airborne Just To Pull For ICE?” ¹¹ In addition, Daughtery’s X post used information from DataRepublican’s X profile which clamed that Win Without War had previously partnered with Open Society Foundations as well as the National Lawyers Guild. ¹¹

1. “What We Do.” Win Without War Education Fund. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://www.winwithoutwaredfund.org/about/what-we-do/
2. “Center for International Policy.” Britannica. Accessed October 21, 2021.  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Center-for-International-Policy
3. “IRS Form 990.” Center for International Policy. 2019. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/521446207/04_2021_prefixes_52-54%2F521446207_201912_990_2021040217860056
4. “Religious, Civic Leaders Form ‘Keep America Safe: Win Without War.’” National Council of Churches. December 11, 2002. Accessed October 21, 2021. http://www.ncccusa.org/news/02news100.html
5. “Take Action.” Win Without War. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://www.winwithoutwar.org/take-action
6. “No More Masquerading Warmongers and War Criminals as Experts.” Win Without War. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://act.winwithoutwar.org/sign/we-say-no-more-masquerading-warmongers-and-war-criminals-experts/
7. “30 Policy Organizations Call on Biden to Rejoin Iran Deal.” Win Without War. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://winwithoutwar.org/policy/30-orgs-to-biden-fulfill-your-campaign-promise-rejoin-the-iran-deal/
8. “Partners.” No Kings. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.nokings.org/partners.
9. Nomani, Asra. “Asra Nomani: The Familiar Hidden Hand behind Today’s #nokings Protests.” Fox News, June 14, 2025.https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/asra-nomani-familiar-hidden-hand-behind-todays-nokings-protests.
10. Crozier, Hudson. “Left-Wing Activists Offer Help To Troops Who Don’t Want To Follow Trump’s Orders. The Daily Caller, September 26, 2025. https://dailycaller.com/2025/09/26/left-wing-activists-offer-help-to-troops-who-dont-want-to-follow-trumps-orders/
11. Daugherty, Eric (@EricLDaugh). X, November 26, 2025. https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1993684458961088599