Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson sends out mass email attacking CODEPINK and appealing to Congress not to stop the war in Yemen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 26th, 2018

Contact: Ariel Gold | CODEPINK national co-director | ariel@codepink.org | 510-599-5330

              Jodie Evans |CODEPINK co-founder | heartofj@gmail.com | 310-621-5635

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson sends out mass email attacking CODEPINK and appealing to Congress not to stop the war in Yemen

Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin, has sent out a mass email toady attacking the peace organization CODEPINK and asking U.S. citizens not to let Congress curtail weapons sales to Saudi Arabia by voting for new legislation introduced today that would do that. In her email, sent to over 200,000 people, she calls CODEPINK “bad for business” and openly criticizes H. Con. Res. 138, the War Powers Resolution to End US Military Involvement in Yemen.

In her email, Hewson takes pride in the the billions of dollars in weapons sales that Lockheed Martin makes from sales of weapons to the Saudi Arabia for use in their war on Yemen. The U.S.-supported Saudi-led war on Yemen has created the greatest humanitarian crisis on earth.

“Marillyn Hewson puts profits before people” says CODEPINKer Brienne Kordis. “In her email she has the gall to say Congress should not support the Ro Khanna-Adams-Smith bill because it would reduce the billions she makes annually off of the war in Yemen. All Hewson cares about is being in the black, but to anyone with a heart, her billion dollar bottom line is red with blood.” A Lockheed Martin bomb was directly linked to the massacre that killed 44 Yemeni children on a school bus.

The War Powers Resolution, introduced on Wednesday, September 26th by House Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17), Adam Smith (WA-09), and Mark Pocan (WI-02), would end US complicity in war crimes being waged against Yemen by invoking the War Powers Act, which says that Congressional authorization is required for the U.S. To go to war. The U.S. involvement in Yemen was never authorized by Congress, and is therefore unconstitutional.

The cosponsors of the resolution are: Reps Adam Smith (WA-09), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Steny Hoyer (MD-05), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Eliot Engel (NY-16), Raul Grijalva (AZ-03), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), Thomas Massie (KY-04), Michael Capuano (MA-07), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Beto O’Rourke (TX-16), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Joe Kennedy (Ma-04), Joe Courtney (CT-2), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Walter Jones (NC-03), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Peter DeFazio (OR-04) and Earl Blumenauer (OR-03).

The text of Hewson’s letter is below.

Subject: CODEPINK is bad for business

Let me introduce myself: I am Marillyn, the proud CEO of weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin. I am writing because my livelihood of $25 million per year is now at risk. Today, Congressmembers Ro Khanna, Adam Smith, and Mark Pocan introduced a bill in the House; the War Powers Resolution to End U.S. Military Involvement in Yemen. If passed, this would prevent my company from selling weapons to our dear allies, the Saudis. It is not only unfair, but it’s also outright unAmerican!

It is urgent that you protect the Saudi alliance--and my livelihood. DON’T CLICK on this link from CODEPINK to send a message to your Representative in Congress asking them to cosponsor the War Powers Resolution to stop weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

CODEPINK, along with Reps. Ro Khanna, Smith, Pocan, McGovern, and others, says that just because Saudi Arabia dropped a Lockheed bomb on a Yemeni school bus, killing 44 young children, the U.S. should stop arms sales. I say this is ridiculous. Who said war was a picnic? Believe me, I feel sorry for these kids, but I have my own children to worry about — private schools, trust funds, upkeep on our Virginia mansion. You know, the basics.

My friends at Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and I will be unfairly persecuted by the War Powers Resolution. American jobs and record profits are far more important than the lives of children in far-off Yemen, most of whom are militants who hate us. That’s why I’m appealing to you: DO NOT CLICK on this link from CODEPINK asking Congress to stop weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

CODEPINK says that because I am a woman and a mother, I should care about the lives of women and children in Yemen. But I didn’t become the CEO of the world’s largest weapons company by being a wuss. The world is a dangerous place, and for the sake of my company’s bottom line, we aim to keep it that way.

Keeping our homeland (and my home) secure.

Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin