June 30, 2010

Dear friend,

Get your phone ready. Congress is set to vote on $33 billion dollars for war in Afghanistan TODAY, and we need to stop them in their delusional tracks. We just returned from the US Social Forum in Detroit, where we witnessed the devastation of the Motor City. The 20 percent unemployment rate there is the highest of any major city, and tens of thousands of homes and stores are abandoned. Senator Carl Levin, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is from Detroit. At the end of the confirmation hearing he chaired for General Petraeus to take over the war in Afghanistan, CODEPINK confronted him for his shameful "leadership", letting Detroit--and Michigan--crumble while funding an unwinnable war.

How can we let Congress send $33 billion dollars to Afghanistan after we've learned that large amounts of US money are being funneled to Afghan warlords and corrupt officials? When we were at the Petraeus confirmation, librarians from around the country were rallying on Senate grounds for funds to stop the massive closing of libraries and layoffs of librarians. How can we throw $33 billion at a mistake when millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, their security?

Call your Congressional representative TODAY at 202-225-3121 and urge them to vote no on the supplemental. Tell them to follow the lead of Reps. Obey and Lowey and take it a step further by halting all war funding due to pervasive corruption in Afghanistan. As Dennis Kucinich reminded Congress, the only way to bring an end to this corruption is to end the war and bring our troops home.

Frank Rich recently noted in the New York Times that "until last week, Obama's only real ally in making his case was public apathy." Let's show Congress and Obama that the American public is not apathetic, and we will not stand for money going to war that is so desperately needed at home.

Picking up our phones for peace and justice,
Bonnie, Dana, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Joan, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Rae, and Victoria