Below is an open letter to our senators, representatives and the Obama administration.
Please consider copying or writing your own and sending it to your representatives and the president.
I will let the letter speak for itself:
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Dear Legislator,
I am writing to urge you to cut the military budget by 25%. This would be a step toward reigning in the out of control Pentagon budget which has grown by 60% since 2001.
Please invest in rebuilding America instead of destroying and rebuilding things abroad. New peace oriented jobs in renewable energy and mass transit can replace current jobs manufacturing weapons....which ultimately need a permanent enemy in order to survive. Let's take the first step towards world peace, economic recovery and combating global warming all at once. Cut military spending by at least 25%.
These cuts should include ending outdated, unnecessary and overly expensive weapons systems. The cost of F-35 Fighter Program will equal the combined outlays for fighting the Korean and Vietnam Wars -- $1 trillion. And, one Nimitz-class aircraft carrier costs $6.2 billion, our tenth such ship, the USS George H. W. Bush, was launched in January 2009. A simple navy combat ship costs $1.4 billion each. Indeed, just the cost overruns on weapons contracts total $300 billion annually. Many weapons being produced today were designed to fight past wars not deal with current security issues.
In addition, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will save $162 billion – the amount appropriated so far. These two war-quagmires will make it impossible to adequately invest the necessary funds in the urgent priority of rebuilding the U.S. economy.
Finally, closing the hundreds of military bases around the world would save $130 billion. Many countries see these bases as imperial outposts. Many Americans see it as the U.S. policing the world. It is time to re-think military policy so that it does not involve hundreds of foreign military bases.
With the U.S. economy in a downward spiral the federal government should be rebuilding the economy, not building unnecessary weapons and fighting discretionary wars.
Sincerely,
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To email The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
To email Joe Courtney: http://courtney.house.gov/email/
To email Joe Lieberman: http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/
To email Chris Dodd: http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3130
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Peace & Solidarity,
Todd Vachon
SPCT
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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