The Pentagon has requested $5 billion in funding from Congress to extend the three-month-old war in Iraq and Syria. Here are three reasons to oppose the Pentagon’s request.
1. You’re against the war. Then it’s a slam dunk, right? If you’re against the war, you should oppose funding it. Go here.
2. You don’t oppose the war, but you believe in the US Constitution, the War Powers Resolution and Schoolhouse Rock democracy, so you figure that Congress should debate and vote on approving a new war before funding it. Go here.
Three months have passed since the war started in early August, but Congress still has not debated and voted on an Authorization for the Use of Military Force [AUMF]. Before Congress appropriates money for the war, it should debate and vote on an AUMF, as Democratic Senator Tim Kaine has been agitating for.
Do your representatives in Congress agree with President Obama that US ground troops should not be committed to combat? Or do they agree with Buck McKeon, the Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, who says that US “boots on the ground” are necessary?
Do your representatives in Congress agree with President Obama that the use of US military force should be limited to confronting ISIS and Al Qaeda? Or do they agree with the president’s critics who demand that the US military attack the military forces of the Syrian government?
Before our representatives in Congress agree to provide $5 billion for more war, shouldn’t they have to tell us which war they support?
3. You don’t oppose the war, and the US Constitution, the War Powers Resolution and Schoolhouse Rock democracy make you no nevermind, but like Taxpayers for Common Sense, you figure that the Pentagon probably already has $5 billion it can use if it turns out its pockets and moves the pillows on the couch. Go here.
The annual “base” budget of the Pentagon is half a trillion dollars. That’s the money that the Pentagon gets if it fights no wars. That’s the money that they get if they’re just “marching up and down the square,” like in the Monty Python skit.
When they were asked to fight actual wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, they got a separate budget for that, which is not subject to the budget caps that the rest of the government is, including the Pentagon. That’s called the “Overseas and Contingency Operations” [OCO] account. The $5 billion request is on top of that. It’s on top of the money that they get for marching up and down the square, and it’s on top of the money that they get for actually fighting wars. It’s a war supplemental to the war supplemental.
If you think that the Pentagon should look harder in the couch, go here.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy