Public Comment

The Pentagon budget for fiscal 2017-18 is a whopping $640 billion consuming 55% of discretionary government spending. Our lawmakers are loath to oppose funding the war machine lest they be accused of being weak on terrorism. We have troops spread across the globe in more than 182 countries.

With an appalling record of overthrowing democratically elected governments around the world (Iran 1953, Guatemala, 1954, Congo, 1960, Dominican Republic . . ) the CIA continues to be a destabilizing force around the world with 38,000 currently engaged in secret missions - with no accountability. Trillions of dollars and thousands of lives have been lost. The US continues to sell weapons to many rogue states guilty of appalling human rights abuses such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and many of the Gulf States. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians have perished in these a rich recruitment for its enemies. We must reject the false belief that we have a divine right to possess WMD’s. After all we are the only nation guilty of unleashing these terrifying weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We should bring back the draft so ALL Americans have a stake in Pentagon’s perpetual wars.

We need to replace our “Shock and Awe” with robust diplomacy. To compound global instability, Islam is wreaking havoc around the world, its terrorism rooted in its scriptures, to “kill all infidels”. Few Islamic scholars voice their opposition to this jihad rhetoric.