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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=296061819-04082011><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>FYI. Lee/Mom</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Just Foreign Policy
[mailto:info@justforeignpolicy.org] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 04, 2011
1:13 PM<BR><B>To:</B> leeloe@igc.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> A Historic Opportunity
to Cut Military Spending by a Trillion<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<DIV
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; PADDING-LEFT: 12px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 12px; PADDING-TOP: 12px; BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(68,68,68) 8px solid">Dear
Lee,
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<H2 style="MARGIN-TOP: 0em"><B>Take Action</B></H2>
<P><B>1. <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=asANRWOBzwp2CzAhie%2FmyBiXn2XEzP%2FU">Urge
the President and your representatives in Congress to put the projected military
budget first in line for cuts in upcoming House-Senate committee
recommendations.</A></B></P>
<P><B>2. <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=bONX2ytH8QAcAeqGrb30rhiXn2XEzP%2FU">Help
us launch our “Cut the Pentagon Budget First” campaign with a donation of $10,
$25, or $100.</A></B></P>
<P></P></DIV>
<P>The final agreement in Washington to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for
massive spending cuts has made a lot of people unhappy. But the agreement had
one important positive aspect: it created a historic opportunity for significant
cuts in projected military spending.</P>
<P><B>Will you help us seize this historic opportunity by urging Congress and
the President to put military spending first in line for budget cuts and by
making a donation to support our “Cut the Pentagon Budget First” campaign to
build momentum for Congress to enact deep cuts to the military budget by
Thanksgiving?</B></P>
<P><B>Write to Congress and the President here:</B></P>
<P><B><A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9mV9D7uVR8nS8eEb%2BYSTLBiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/cutpentagonfirst</A></B></P>
<P><B>Help us launch our “Cut the Pentagon Budget First” campaign this
September, which will mobilize the public around congressional and media
advocacy initiatives to press for deep cuts in projected military spending, by
donating $10, $25, or $100 to Just Foreign Policy here:</B></P>
<P><B><A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=lTkn1EXV8UYfYsSpePelxhiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate/cutpentagonfirst</A></B></P>
<P>Thanks to this week's agreement, for the first time in years, "security"
spending in the current fiscal year has been cut to below what it was in the
previous year. While the cut is small, it has set an important precedent:
"security" spending doesn't have to grow, it can go down. [1]</P>
<P>More significantly, under the agreement, a joint House-Senate committee is
supposed to propose, by Thanksgiving, $1.5 trillion of additional cuts from
projected spending over ten years. <B><I>Significant cuts in projected military
spending are on the table!</I></B> Indeed, if the joint committee doesn't agree
on a plan or Congress doesn't enact it, $1.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years will
be triggered, of which half must come from the military. [2]</P>
<P>If the military cuts in the trigger mechanism take place, when added to the
projected military cuts announced by the White House as part of this week's
deal, total cuts in projected military spending would amount to $884 billion.
This is very close to the $886 billion in military cuts agreed by the plan of
the Senate's "Gang of Six," a plan endorsed by President Obama. [3] It's in the
ballpark of the $960 billion in proposed military cuts of the Frank-Paul
Sustainable Defense Task Force, [4] the trillion dollars in proposed military
cuts of the report of President's deficit commission, [5] the $1.1 trillion
reduction in projected military spending proposed by the Domenici-Rivlin task
force, [6] and the $1.2 trillion in military cuts recommended by Cato [7].
Conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn says cutting the projected military
budget by a trillion dollars is "not hard" and is "common sense." [8]</P>
<P>Cutting the military budget by a trillion dollars would likely imply a
fundamentally different foreign policy: one without counterinsurgency wars.
<I>The Washington Post</I> reports:</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>To find $1 trillion in savings, the White House would have to make
major changes to its current global military strategy, under which the
Pentagon should be able to fight two wars like Iraq and Afghanistan
simultaneously. Scaling back that requirement would allow for big cuts to the
Army and Marine Corps... Congress would be betting that the Afghan war will
wind down as planned and that the country will not be drawn into any big,
costly counterinsurgency wars in the next 10 to 15 years. [9]</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>From the point of view of the interests of the majority of Americans, that's
not a cost of cutting the military budget; it's a benefit.</P>
<P><B>This is truly a historic opportunity to cut the military budget and help
prevent future wars. Urge your representatives in Congress and the President to
put the military budget first in line for cuts.</B></P>
<P></P>
<P><B><A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=NOjN3%2FHOqdcGQvDLu34jDhiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/cutpentagonfirst</A></B></P>
<P>Thank you for all you do to help bring about a just foreign policy,</P>
<P>Robert Naiman, Sarah Burns, Chelsea Mozen, Kate Gould and Megan Iorio<BR>Just
Foreign Policy</P>
<P><B>Please support our work.</B><BR>Your donation allows us to promote
opportunities for Americans to advocate for a just foreign policy.<BR><A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=thwU0PfsRrkPYNPDOnuJjRiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate/cutpentagonfirst</A></P>
<P>References:</P>
<P>1. "The Debt Deal and Defense Spending," Laicie Olson, Center for Arms
Control and Non-Proliferation, 8/2/2011, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gGQmzIa4y7J%2FO2%2BQIlxWnxiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.nukesofhazardblog.com/story/2011/8/2/133157/1318</A><BR>2.
"Pentagon Faces Possibility of Hundreds of Billions in Spending Cuts over 10
Years," Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times, 8/1/2011, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BF1N5EqlBrg95dksQZ877xiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/us/politics/02pentagon.html</A><BR>3.
"Defense spending cut in debt deal unclear," Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy, Monday,
8/1/2011, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Jjrt4y1Cd2WAXXSe2ygSpSIjpMFOcsWS">http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/01/defense_spending_cut_in_debt_deal_unclear</A><BR>4.
"Debt, Deficits, and Defense: A Way Forward," Report of the Sustainable Defense
Task Force, 6/11/2010, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=uLJlr71zM8dx8Tl7iMHyQBiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/SDTFreportexsum.pdf</A><BR>5.
"The Moment of Truth," The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and
Reform," 12/2010, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=DINh%2FbeBBK1AGlELbJNjABiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/sites/fiscalcommission.gov/files/documents/TheMomentofTruth12_1_2010.pdf</A><BR>6.
"Restoring America's Future," Domenici-Rivlin task force, 11/2010, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=KNokMdLXt5vH%2Bskd6m7jvRiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20DRTF%20EXECUTIVE%20SUMMARY_0.pdf</A><BR>7.
"Budgetary Savings from Military Restraint," Benjamin H. Friedman and
Christopher Preble, Cato Institute, 9/21/2010, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=quO9KhgEgoGDj20GYJmmeRiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12151</A><BR>8.
Transcript, CBS News' Face the Nation, 7/17/2011, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7bvK5uI%2F53eZcLQTBg9E4BiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/FTN_071711.pdf</A><BR>9.
"Debt 'Trigger' Has Pentagon Budget In Its Crosshairs, Greg Jaffe, Washington
Post, 08/1/2011, <A
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=sc06PIA1Oyy0VHxWpc5o%2FxiXn2XEzP%2FU">http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-in-cross-hairs-of-debt-trigger/2011/08/01/gIQAhSt9nI_story.html</A></P>
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