Dear Representative Larsen




Friends,

We are asking individuals, organizations and congregations to sign on to this letter to Congressperson Rick Larsen. Simply add your name to the letter using this link. If your have the permission of the organization you belong to, please include it. Our intention is to hand deliver this letter to Representative Larsen in our next FCNL Legislative Advocacy Team meeting.

Best,

Janet Marino
Whatcom Peace & Justice Center

*With great thanks to the author of the letter, Ginny Herrick.
-----------------------------------------------

Dear Representative Larsen,

We, the undersigned, urge you to take a leadership role in creating sunset legislation for the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force. As you noted in your September 2014 open letter to President Obama, the 2001 AUMF – passed after the September 11 Al-Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon – is badly outdated and has been exercised by successive administrations far beyond Congressional intent. Moreover, the use of military force is a blunt instrument that fouls America's international reputation and is less effective against terrorism than more peaceful policies.

The RAND Corporation's 2008 report, “How Terrorist Groups End,” studied 648 such groups that existed between 1968 and 2006. Their results are important for shaping U.S. strategies regarding Al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State. Most ended because either they joined the political process (43 percent) or local police and intelligence agencies arrested or killed leaders (40 percent). Only 7 percent ended as a result of military intervention.

“The use of substantial U.S. military power against terrorist groups also runs a significant risk of turning the local population against the government by killing civilians,” the report points out.

In the years of endless, fruitless war since 9/11, Americans have tested the limits of military force to combat terrorism. Sending U.S. troops to achieve ends better suited to local police and intelligence or to diplomacy, is a betrayal of our men and women in uniform. Corruption by military contractors and the difficulty of policing them shows that our military is fighting unwinnable wars under untenable circumstances.

We urge you, as a member of the Armed Services Committee, to propose the repeal of the 2001 AUMF with no more than a 12-month sunset, allowing time to create a comprehensive political strategy. Instead of calling on U.S. troops to sacrifice life and limb to the failed policies of warfare, we must have the courage to pivot to peace.

Signed,

Janet Marino
Virginia Herrick
Lynne Lohr
Gene Marx
Allen Stockbridge
Micki Jackson
Jamie K. Donaldson
James E. Hansen
Margaret L Kriger
Kerry Johnson
Carolyn DeSilva
Judith Green
Stephanie Trasoff
Lucinda Pfeiffer-Hoyt
Victoria Marx
Keith Fredrikson
Dan Hanks
Neah Monteiro
Junga Subedar
Edward Alexander
Linda Newton
Richard Newton
Terrye Rubens-Sheets
Kathleen Keegahn
George Keegahn
Patricia Rathbun
Mark F. Herrick
David Hopkinson
Katherine Finks
John Hatten
Wendy Courtmanche
Jeanine Hart-Horner
Stephanie Manzo
Mary Ann Percy
Joanne Cowan
Karen Steen
Nanette Macy
Judy Hopkinson
Lorina Hall
Patricia King
J. Kaye Faulkner
Kira Derhgawer
Sandra Gottschalk
Don Duffy, Jr.
Deborah Lee
Stan Parker
Alice Robb
James F. Cool
Hue Beattie
Jack Miller
Martina Boyd
Richard Brummett
Bill Distler
Michael Jacobsen
Tara Reynolds

Organizations:
Veterans For Peace Chapter 111
Whatcom Peace & Justice Center
Whatcom Civil Rights Project



To add your name or organization to this letter go to the link in the introduction (above) or the Google docs link below.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12xWNy6UGbozzHDk89dEgajMaxe8V7I-0adcG9RCWAF8/viewform?c=0&w=1&fbzx=-3649887274437560026' 

EXCLUSIVE: Navy Uses US Citizens as Pawns in Domestic War Games
Monday, 11 January 2016 00:00 By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report


 





   Navy SEALs conduct a capabilities exercise at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort    Story on Virginia Beach, Virginia, July 21, 2012. Beginning in mid-January, Navy SEALs will be conducting war games across Washington State's coastal areas, including through public and private property. (Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William S. Parker / US Navy)


Beginning in mid-January, Navy SEALs will be practicing unannounced and clandestine combat beach landings across Washington State's Puget Sound and many other coastal areas of that state.

The simulated combat exercises, which will include the use of mini-submarines and other landing craft, will deposit Navy SEALs carrying "simulated weapons" on 68 beach and state park areas in Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Washington's west coast, unbeknownst to most of the relevant government agencies tasked with overseeing these areas.

Internal Navy emails, two slide shows (which can be viewed in full here and here) and other documents obtained exclusively by Truthout reveal the vast extent of the operations. They also reveal the fact that the Navy labeled the relevant files as "For Official Use Only" and emails as "Attorney-Client privilege," a move that exempts such documents from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).The Navy has planned exercises that could take place, according to their own maps, along the entirety of Washington State's coastlines. (Image: Document obtained by Dahr Jamail)

Public concern for what is clearly an ongoing domestic military expansionism is growing.
In the new scenario, which the military calls "realistic military training," Navy SEALs carrying "simulated" weapons may also travel across public and private property within city limits, and may swim through public and private marinas occupied by people living on boats. They could conduct war game patrols on roads through residential communities. In addition to tribal, state, federal and county lands, there are many properties on the Navy's list of training sites marked as private.

Naval plans include the use of special reconnaissance teams conducting patrols, which are authorized to go on simulated "direct action" missions. The definition of "direct action" is "short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets."

Public concern for what is clearly an ongoing domestic military expansionism is growing. Despite some strange conspiracy theories around Operation Jade Helm in 2015, the operation also provoked a very real concern: The spread of the military into residential and public areas. This, coupled with several recently documented instances of abusive, unlawful behavior by Navy SEALs overseas, has many people alarmed by what is to come.

Read complete article in Truthout

UPDATE January 3, 2016: The Forest Service’s latest Schedule of Proposed Actions states that the decision on the Electronic Warfare Range is now expected in June 2016, with implementation (permit granted) in July. No further information at this time.


Sea lion. One of many marine mammal species
that will be affected.