Over the past several decades—particularly after the widespread public opposition to the U.S.’s intervention in Vietnam—the Pentagon has methodically worked to embed the ‘military-industrial complex’ in every congressional district around the country. Today, there is nary a representative in Congress whose district isn’t an economic beneficiary of the Department of Defense’s ‘gravy train.’
Here in Nebraska, U.S. Strategic Command, according to the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, annually contributes $2.5 billion to the local economy. In the 1st Congressional District (which includes Lincoln), the Pentagon has close ties with the University of Nebraska—specifically its new “Space and Telecom Law Program”—as well as contracts with private firms. And in the 3rd District, the entire Panhandle is dotted with ICBM missile silos affiliated with Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.
The steady infusion of Defense dollars into local economies has made it increasingly difficult for legislators to separate military and foreign policy decisions from their home district’s economic interests. So deep have the Pentagon’s tentacles reached into our nation’s 435 congressional districts that every military expenditure, every foreign intervention, is now invariably a ‘jobs issue’ for some Congressmember somewhere.
Read morePosted In: Anti-War & International Law
The following news article detailing the exorbitant waste, fraud and abuse in the Pentagon budget strongly makes the case for why cutting military spending needs to be the centerpiece for all deficit reduction efforts in Congress. Contact your Federal Elected Officials to urge them to cut the Millitary budget first and foremost.
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Comment Line: 202-456-1111
202-456-1414
202-456-2993 (Fax)
www.whitehouse.gov
Sen. Ben Nelson
11819 Miracle Hills Drive, Suite 205, Omaha, NE 68154
440 North 8th Street, Suite 120, Lincoln, NE 68508
202-224-6551 (Washington, D.C.)
402-391-3411 (Omaha)
402-441-4600 (Lincoln)
308-631-7614 (Scottsbluff)
308-293-5818 (Kearney)
402-209-3595 (South Sioux City)
www.bennelson.senate.gov
Read morePosted In: Anti-War & International Law
OMAHA WORLD-HERALD
FRIDAY JUNE 17, 2011
BY JOHN D. DAVIE
The writer, of Dunlap, Iowa, is a retired sergeant major in the U.S. Army.
In a June 11 Public Pulse letter, retired Capt. George Autobee opined that “former House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) is absolutely right that the defense budget cuts now being proposed in Washington, D.C., would hurt our national security.”
Read morePosted In: Anti-War & International Law
EXIT Afghanistan
Join Nebraskans for Peace in calling for a withdrawal from Afghanistan
President Obama’s announcement that he will withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year (with another 23,000 slated to come home by September 2012) will only lower the force numbers in that country to the Bush/Cheney Administration’s deployment levels — to where they were before the ordered troop 'surge' in 2009.
Read morePosted In: Anti-War & International Law
Omaha World-Herald
Friday June 3, 2011
By Paul A. Olson
The writer is president emeritus of Nebraskans for Peace. He is a retired University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor.
The war in Afghanistan is 10 years old. Our longest war, it’s also one of our most futile.
Read morePosted In: Anti-War & International Law
