I'll be brief. That $1.5 trillion war chest you've been hearing about is on the verge of becoming a reality now, with both the Senate and the House trying to reconcile their separate Pentagon bills. Our window to stop it is starting to close.
This is likely the last week we will see the House and Senate both in DC before the November midterms, so this week is a critical point to contact them about the war budget. We are not just asking for a cut in Pentagon spending, we want as many representatives as possible voting "NO" on the whole damn thing.
The Trump administration has spent the last year and a half cutting funding for social services, saying they're too expensive for taxpayers. But what about the Pentagon, an institution that's never passed an audit, where 50% of its budget goes directly to private companies? Funding the lavish lifestyles of Lockheed Martin executives is the real thing Americans can't afford. We want healthcare, not warfare, and we don't want to give our hard-earned money to billionaires.
After you do that, send the link to as many friends as possible so they can do the same.
And get your own "Fund <BLANK> Not War" stickers here!
News & analysis
👉🏼 Fighting escalates in Yemen. Over the weekend, Ansar Allah (the Houthis) took the port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed forces, as well as an island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. This gives Ansar Allah even more control over the strait than before. An oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia was also attacked by a drone launched from Iraq. The U.S. has stayed out of this resurgence in fighting so far, despite being asked to intervene by the Saudi crown prince, likely because Trump's war in Iran has been such a disaster. Escalating in the region would be even more unpopular, even though Trump and previous U.S. presidents unconditionally backed Saudi Arabia against Yemen in the past. If fighting in Yemen continues, expect it to be used in arguments in favor of expanding the Pentagon budget in the name of "security."
👉🏼 Oil hits four-month high as a result of the war in Iran. Oil hit $108 per barrel over the weekend as a result of Trump and Hegseth's war on Iran. The administration has torpedoed the possibility of any good-faith negotiations, and the war has only escalated. Working people, who largely didn't support the war in the first place, are being forced to bear the burden of spiking gas prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to bomb and attack Iranians.
👉🏼 Pete Hegseth used a 9/11 memorial event to warmonger against Iran. In his remarks at an event memorializing the 9/11 attacks, Pete Hegseth used his time to justify his unpopular war against Iran. “The struggle against evil continued, and it continues now,” Hegseth said. “There are still enemies who hate us. Every day enemies plot to curb our power and kill our citizens, including from Islamic terrorists abroad and at home.” Hegseth is doing what war criminals like himself do best, stoking fear to justify increased war spending and endless wars.
Personal note from Danaka
We are approaching a number of major anniversaries. Last Friday marked 25 years since the 9/11 attacks — and the launch of the so-called "Global War on Terror." In October, it will be 25 years since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the passage of the PATRIOT Act. What's been weighing heavily on my mind lately is how much death and destruction has occurred within my lifetime and the trajectory this country was set on not even two years after I was born.
In my lifetime, 4,500,000+ people have been killed directly or indirectly in U.S. wars following 9/11. At least 38 million people have been displaced. Though that scale feels impossible to comprehend for a lot of us, it was the direct experience of millions and millions of people. Money was sucked out of working people's paychecks to fuel these devastating wars and to enrich the weapons companies that made the destruction possible. In 2001, the Pentagon budget was around $300 billion; today, I'm trying to stop a $1.5 trillion war budget.
A lot has changed since then, which gives me a little bit of hope. Most people don't seem to be buying the warmongering the political class is selling these days. Congress didn't want to pass the Pentagon budget before the midterm elections because they knew it would cost them something. That alone speaks volumes. This is the most opposition I've ever seen to war spending. It appears the trajectory we were set on 25 years ago is beginning to change.
Until liberation,
P.S. Join us for a webinar ahead of the 25th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on October 1st at 7PM ET. RSVP for "Afghanistan 25 Years Later: Western Feminism Weaponized for War" with Sayeda Qader, Jenin, and myself.
