Editor’s Note: This letter was sent earlier this week, as you can see below. Iowa Peace Network signed on early on, several months ago. CODEPINK led the movement to obtain international signatures, and celebrity signatures. This letter is now released to the public, and CODEPINK has given IPN permission to reprint.
CODEPINK: Women For Peace
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
17 October 2022
President Biden & Members of the United States Congress,
We, the undersigned organizations from around the world, are
calling for a cancellation of the
F-35 program, an end to F-35 training in residential areas
like South Burlington, Vermont and
Madison, Wisconsin, and a reinvestment of the project’s
funds to life affirming programs. We are
making these demands based on the harm caused abroad, cost
of the program to the taxpayer,
inefficiencies and failures, the environmental impact of
F-35s, and the effects training has on
local communities.
HARM CAUSED THROUGH MILITARISM
We primarily stand firmly against the F-35 as a weapon of
war. Although not ready for full-scale
production, the U.S. intends on producing countless F-35s to
sell around the world that will
without a doubt be used to harm people living in the Global
South. F-35s have the capacity to
carry nuclear weapons, and the deployment of these jets only
aids nuclear proliferation. The U.S.
already makes up 40% of the global arms trade, aiding and
abetting war crimes all over the
world. Israel is procuring F-35’s from the United States
which have already been used to launch
airstrikes on Gaza to further Israel’s goals of ethnic
cleansing and displacement in Palestine.
Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in F-35s as well as the
UAE while both countries wage a
brutal war on Yemen. The F-35 is a disaster of a project,
but also a potential disaster for
humanity.
INEFFICIENCIES AND FAILURES
The F-35 spending is becoming impossible for important
members of Congress to justify. The
Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith
called the F-35 a “rathole.”
Another member of HASC, Rep. John Garamendi had some
scathing comments about the F-35
in a HASC subcommittee hearing in May:
“For the contractors out there, what are you doing? Why
can’t you give us a piece of equipment
that actually works? You should never have a contract. And
for Lockheed, you want a five-year
maintenance contract? You can’t do what you’re doing today.
Come on. What are we thinking? If
I have not adequately expressed my frustration, I would
assume that my frustration is less than
the frustration of the pilots and the maintainers out there.
… The primary maintenance
responsibility on this is Lockheed and you gentlemen.”
The Government Accountability Office said the F-35
“continues to fall short of prescribed
mission-capable rates and is consistently missing
reliability targets”. According to the GAO, the
F-35A in 2021 was fully mission capable 50% of the time,
while the F-35B was fully mission
capable less than 20 percent of the time. The F-35c was only
capable 9.5% of the time.
The signatories call attention to the failures of the
program to address harmful projects seeing
never ending investment while programs that protect people
such as universal healthcare never
see the light of day.
COST TO THE TAXPAYER
The failures of the program make the spending impossible to
justify, even from a militaristic
standpoint. The F-35 program is the Department of Defense’s
most expensive weapon system
program. As of now, the F-35’s projected total cost is $1.7
trillion, which includes $1.3 trillion in
estimated operations and sustainment over 66 years. The F-35
is horribly behind schedule,
experiencing massive cost overruns with maintenance costs
doubling. The F-35 is not ready for
full scale production. According to the GAO, “if DOD moves
forward as planned, it will have
bought a third of all F-35s before determining that the
aircraft is ready to move into full-rate
production.” Spending billions to trillions of dollars on a
plane that is not yet up to speed with
what the government has requested is poor fiscal policy.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
F-35s also have a significant impact on the environment with
their high carbon emissions and
pollution on local bases. The F-35 uses a significant amount
of fuel – about 2.37 gallons of fuel
for every mile traveled and around 1,340 gallons of fuel per
hour. This is particularly egregious
compared to the F-35’s predecessor, the F-16, which used at
least 415 gallons of fuel per hour
less. One single F-35 tank of gas produces the equivalent of
28 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
These emissions heavily pollute air and water sources in
basing locations in the U.S. and abroad.
Base site construction for F-35 training in the U.S. has
also disregarded the need for
environmental remediation of pre-existing contaminants such
as PFAS, risking further pollution
of surrounding communities. F35 pollution is an
environmental justice issue, as they are
disproportionately tested, trained, and deployed in
low-income communities of color.
These environmental impacts do not even account for the role
of the plane in active combat. As
they’re deployed around the world, we see Lockheed Martin’s
jets subjecting communities
globally to egregious noise levels, environmental
contamination, and the risk of nuclear warfare.
The F-35 is also a part of the U.S. strategic nuclear bomber
force, possessing the capability to
carry and deploy the B61-12 guided nuclear bomb. If
deployed, this bomb - and all other nuclear
weapons - would have catastrophic long-term environmental
consequences.
EFFECT ON U.S. LOCALS
Currently, F-35 training in Vermont disrupts the lives of
working-class people. The training is
irregular and Vermonters go without warning of when these
trainings will take place. The noise
caused by the F-35 hits 115 decibels which especially hurts
and injures infants and children, the
elderly, and the disabled. The F-35 has 300 to 600 takeoffs
and landings a month.
Let’s consider the City of Winooski, VT. More than half the
city is within the US Air Force
designated 5.2 mile by 1.2 mile oval-shaped F-35 noise
target zone centered on the runway.
Winooski is a working-class city, the most densely populated
in Vermont, with the state’s most
ethnic diversity. As reported by the US Air Force itself in
2013, repeated exposure to military
aircraft noise at the level of the F-35, can damage hearing.
The Air Force also reported that the
much lower aircraft noise level produced by civilian
aircraft was still sufficient to impair the
learning and cognitive development of children living in the
flight path of heavily used
commercial airports. The US Air Force identified the entire
oval-shaped noise target zone as an
area “generally considered unsuitable for residential use.”
So it was no secret for the state’s
political and military leaders that locating the F-35 at BTV
would cause pain and injury to
children and adults on a mass scale. In Madison, where the
F-35’s are likely to end up starting in
the next few years, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Wisconsin has identified the following
risks to children as a result of loud noise and air
pollution:
• Preterm or low birth weights
• Delayed speech development
• Hearing loss
• Interference with concentration, long term memory, reading
and math comprehension
In addition, adults as well as children would face increased
risk of:
• Stress hormones that cause sleep disturbances
• Anxiety
• PTSD
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Heart disease
• Strokes
For all the aforementioned reasons, we, the undersigned
organizations, reject the government’s
reckless over investment in the F-35 program and demand its
immediate cancellation. The costs
of this program to the taxpayer, the environment, local
communities, and the communities upon
which the US and its allies will wage war are too high to
justify. It is time for the government to
prioritize the welfare of human beings and the planet over
military superiority and the weapons
industry’s profits.
We call on our policy makers to cancel the F-35 program,
cancel training within the U.S. and
reinvest that money into universal healthcare, student debt
forgiveness, housing guarantees and
more.
Sincerely,
CODEPINK: Women For Peace
Roger Waters, Co-Founder of Pink Floyd
Ben Cohen, Co-Founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
Noam Chomsky, Linguist
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of CODEPINK
Jodie Evans, Co-Founder of CODEPINK
Abby Martin, Journalist
Bill Ayers, Activist/Professor of Education
Bernardine Dohrn, Activist/Law Professor
And the undersigned 229 organizations
BELGIUM:
Vredesactie
CANADA:
Boundary Peace Initiative
Canadian Foreign Policy
Institute
Canadian Voice of Women
for Peace
Conscience Canada
Fire This Time Movement
for Social Justice, Canada
Global Peace Alliance
Society
Gravelbourg & District
Tribune Weekly
Newspaper
Hamilton Coalition To
Stop The War
Just Peace
Advocates/Mouvement
Pour Une Paix Juste
Montréal for a World
BEYOND War
Nova Scotia Voice of
Women for Peace
Pax Christi Toronto,
Canada
Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Regina Peace Council
Socialist Action / Ligue
pour l'Action socialiste,
Canada
Victoria Peace Coalition
Winnipeg Branch
Association of United
Ukrainian Canadians
Women's International
League for Peace and
Freedom Canada
World BEYOND War -
Vancouver
Canadian Peace Congress
Pivot2Peace (S. Geo. Bay
Chapter, WBW)
The Canada Files
GERMANY:
Berlin World Beyond War
Chapter, Coop Antiwar
Cafe
Bundesausschuss
Friedensratschlag
Deutscher Friedensrat e.V.
(German Peace Council)
Forum against Militarism
and War, Heidelberg,
Germany
Friedensglockengesellscha
ft e.V., Berlin
International Peace Bureau
(IPB)
RüstungsInformationsBüro
GLOBAL:
CODEPINK
Food Not Bombs
Women's International
League for Peace and
Freedom
World BEYOND War
KENYA:
Loresho Ridge Art
Commune, Nairobi, Kenya
MEXICO:
Nuevo País, México.
PARAGUAY:
Consejo de Organizaciones
Sociales y Populares
SPAIN:
Women in Black, Madrid
Women in Black, Spain
SWITZERLAND:
Group For a Switzerland
Without an Army
UNITED
KINGDOM:
Campaign Against Arms
Trade
Shadow World
Investigations
Stop the War Coalition
(UK)
Tipping Point North
South/Transform Defence
Project
UNITED STATES:
350 Milwaukee
350 Wisconsin
About Face: Veterans
Against War
Action Corps
Alaska Peace Center
American Friends Service
Committee
Anti-Imperialist Action
Committee
Association of Concerned
Africa Scholars (USA)
Association of Roman
Catholic Women Priests
Backbone Campaign
Baltimore Nonviolence
Center
Ban Killer Drones.org
Banish The F35s Party
Barrymore Theatre
Brandywine Peace
Community
Broome County NY Peace
Action
Building Unity
Call To Action - Madison
Area, Inc.
Casa Baltimore Limay
Citizens Against Nuclear
Bombers
Citizens for Peace
CODEPINK Chicago -
DivestMike
CODEPINK Golden Gate
Chapter
Community Organizing
Center
Crawford Stewardship
Project
Demilitarize Western
Massachusetts
Divest Ed
Dorothy Day Catholic
Worker, Washington DC
DSA International
Committee
Earth care not warfare
Eisenhower Media
Network
El Centro de la Raza
Extinction Rebellion DC
Family Farm Defenders
FCNL Lansing Area
Advocacy Team
Feel The Bern San
Fernando Valley
Democratic Club
Fellowship of
Reconciliation, USA
Feminist Foreign Policy
Project
Feminist Peace Initiative
Florida for a World
Beyond War
Foreign Policy Team,
Progressive Democrats of
America
Four Lakes Green Party
Fox Valley Peace Coalition
- Appleton, WI, USA
Freedom Forward
Friends of FRanz & Ben
bensalmon.org
Friends of Starkweather
Creek
Global Network Against
Weapons & Nuclear Power
in Space
Granny Peace Brigade
NYC
Grassroots Global Justice
Alliance
Ground Zero Center for
Nonviolent Action
Harambee Village Doulas
Harmony With Our Planet
- NJ
Hawai’i Peace and Justice
Health Advocacy
International
Historians for Peace and
Democracy
Institute for Policy Studies,
New Internationalism
Project
Interfaith Peace Working
Group
Iowa Peace Network
Justice and Peace Team,
Edgewood United Church,
East Lansing, MI
JVP-Portland
Kairos Center for
Religions, Rights and
Social Justice
Kalamazoo nonviolent
opponents of war
Kateri Peace Conference
Kickapoo Peace Circle
L.I.Alliance for Peaceful
Alternatives
LaForge
Lansing Area Peace
Education Center
Lauren Faith Smith
Ministry for Nonviolence
LEPOCO Peace Center
Linda and Gene Farley
Center for Peace, Justice &
Sustainability
Long Beach Area Peace
Network
Madison Area DSA
Madison Environmental
Justice Organization
Madison Monthly Meeting
of the Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers)
Madison-Rafah Sister City
Project
MADRE
Maine Veterans For Peace
Maryknoll Office for
Global Concerns
Maryland Peace Action
Maryland United for Peace
and Justice
Massachusetts Peace
Action
Micah
Military Law Task Force of
the National Lawyers
Guild
Military Poisons
Minnesota Peace Project
Mothers Against Gun
Violence
Muslim Peace Fellowship
National Lawyers Guild
(NLG)
National Priorites Project
at the Institute for Policy
Studies
Nevada Desert Experience
No More Bombs
Nuclear Ban.US
Olympia Coalition to
Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Oregonizers
Our Revolution Baltimore
City/County
Our Wisconsin Revolution
Partners for Palestine
Pax Christi Lansing
Pax Christi Madison
Pax Christi Metro New
York
Pax Christi New York
State
Pax Christi Upstate New
York
Pax Christi USA
Peace Action
Peace Action Bay Ridge
Peace Action Maine
Peace Action New York
State
Peace Action of Michigan
Peace Action of San Mateo
County
Peace Action WI
Peace and Justice Works
Iraq Affinity Group
(Portland, OR)
Peace, Justice,
Sustainability NOW!
PEACEWORKERS
People for Peace &
Security
People’s city council
Physicians for Social
Responsibility Wisconsin
PJALS
Pregnancy Options
Wisconsin: Education,
Resources, & Support, Inc
Quaker Palestine Israel
Network
Rachel Corrie Chapter 109
Veterans For Peace
Racine (WI) Coalition for
Peace & Justice
Redwood City Catholic
Worker
ReThinking Foreign Policy
Rooms for PEACE
RootsAction.org
Safe Skies Clean Water
Wisconsin
School Sisters of Notre
Dame - CP JPIC
Seattle Anti-War Coalition
Sisters of Mercy of the
Americas - Justice Team
Socialist Law Students of
Wisconsin
Solidarity Realty
Spokane Veterans For
Peace #035
STEM Strikes for Peace
Syracuse Peace council
Syracuse Veterans for
Peace chapter 51
Tacoma Fellowship of
Reconciliation
The Center for
International Policy (CIP)
The Herd of Northern
Vermonters
Transformative Wealth
Management, LLC
U.S. Labor Against
Racism and War
UNA USA Chapter of
Greater Detroit
Unity of Madison
upstate (ny/usa) drone
action
Uptown Progressive
Action
US Boats to Gaza
Veterans For Peace
Veterans For Peace
Chapter 113 Hawai’i
Veterans For Peace
Chapter 27
Veterans for Peace chapter
90
Veterans for Peace Chapter
90 Binghamton NY
Veterans For Peace Golden
Rule Project
Veterans For Peace Jon
Miles Chapter 13, Tucson
Veterans For Peace Linus
Pauling Chapter 132
Veterans for Peace
Madison, Clarence Kailin
CH. 25 25
Veterans For Peace Maine
Chapter
Veterans for Peace the
Hector Black Chapter
Veterans for Peace
Vermont
Veterans for Peace-Chapter
136, The Villages, Florida
Veterans For Peace,
Milwaukee Chapter 102
Veterans for Peace, North
Texas
Veterans For Peace, Santa
Fe NM Chapter
Washington Against
Nuclear Weapons
Washington Poor Peoples
Campaign
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
WEST SUBURBAN
PEACE COALITION
Western WA FOR Seattle
Chapter
Whatcom Peace & Justice
Center
WI Coalition to Ground
the Drones and End the
Wars
WILPF ST.Louis
Wisconsin Faith Voices for
Justice
Wisconsin Network for
Peace and Justice
Wisconsin Resources
Protection Council
Women Against Military
Madness
Women Cross DMZ
Women's International
League for Peace &
Freedom - Madison WI
Branch
Women's International
League for Peace and
Freedom - Burlington VT
Branch
Women's International
League for Peace and
Freedom- Triangle Branch
World Beyond War Naples
Chapter
World Without War
Yemen Relief and
Reconstruction Foundation
NH Peace Action
Raytheon Anti-War
Campaign - Massachusetts
Yemeni Alliance
Committee
Yemeni Liberation
Movement
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