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For Immediate Release
March, 23 2011, 02:02pm EDT
Contact:
Ken Bossong 301-270-6477 x.11
142 Groups/Businesses Call for End to U.S. Nuclear Power
In a group letter sent to President Obama, members of his Administration, and all the Members of the U.S. Congress, 142 organizations and businesses wrote that the Japanese nuclear accident is a tragic reminder that it is long past the time to end U.S. reliance on nuclear power.
The groups argued that nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all potential "acts of God," all instances of "human error," all types of "mechanical malfunction," and all forms of "terrorist attack."
WASHINGTON
In a group letter sent to President Obama, members of his Administration, and all the Members of the U.S. Congress, 142 organizations and businesses wrote that the Japanese nuclear accident is a tragic reminder that it is long past the time to end U.S. reliance on nuclear power.
The groups argued that nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all potential "acts of God," all instances of "human error," all types of "mechanical malfunction," and all forms of "terrorist attack."
Moreover, the still unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan once again underscores that there is no such thing as "safe" or "clean" or "cheap" nuclear power.
Consequently, no new reactors should be built in the Untied States and existing nuclear reactors should be phased out as rapidly as possible. Instead, national energy policy and funding should be refocused on greatly improved energy efficiency and the rapid deployment of renewable energy sources which are far cleaner, safer, and cheaper than nuclear power.
The text of the letter and list of signers follows.
# # # # # # #
March 23, 2011
President Barack Obama
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
U.S. Senator Harry Reid
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell
U.S. Representative John Boehner
U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi
Members, U.S. Congress
Dear Sir/Madam:
We, the 142 undersigned safe energy advocates, have been speaking out about the risks and dangers posed by nuclear power for years - for many of us, since before the 1986 Chornobyl and 1979 Three Mile Island accidents as well as the hundreds of other radioactive releases, unplanned shut-downs, and other mishaps that have continuously plagued both the U.S. and the international nuclear industries since their founding.
While nuclear power's unacceptable safety, environmental, public health, economic, and national security risks should have been self-evident long before now, the latest unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan once again underscores the following:
Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all potential "acts of God."
Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all instances of "human error."
Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all types of "mechanical malfunction."
Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all forms of "terrorist attack."
There is no such thing as "safe" nuclear power.
There is no such thing as "clean" nuclear power.
There is no such thing as "cheap" nuclear power.
Consequently, the Price-Anderson cap on liability in the event of an accident should be repealed, all proposed governmental financial and regulatory incentives for new nuclear plant construction - including loan guarantees, accelerated licensing, and inclusion in a "clean energy standard" - should be rejected, and no new reactors should be built.
Existing nuclear reactors should be phased out as rapidly as possible, beginning with the oldest and/or most unsafe, and no presently-licensed reactors should have their operating lives extended.
Safety standards for existing reactors should be substantially tightened while they continue to operate and federal nuclear funding should be redirected to the orderly phase-out of those reactors as well as the safe decommissioning of closed reactors and disposal of radioactive waste.
National energy policy and funding should be refocused on greatly improved energy efficiency and the rapid deployment of renewable energy sources which are far cleaner, safer, and cheaper than nuclear power.
Sincerely,
Michael Closson, Executive Director
Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet
Palo Alto, CA
Aur J. Beck, Chief Tech
Advanced Energy Solutions
Pomona, IL
Lesley Weinstock, Coordinator
Agua es Vida Action Team
Albuquerque, NM
Rochelle Becker, Executive Director
Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
San Luis Obispo, CA
Laura Filbert Zacher, CEO
ARE Systems, LLC
St. Louis, MO
Thea Paneth, Secretary
Arlington United for Justice with Peace
Arlington, MA
Mari Rose Taruc, State Organizing Director
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Oakland, CA
Lara Morrison, Board Member
Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust
Los Angeles, CA
Kay Martin, Vice President
BioEnergy Producers Association
Gualala, CA
Kay Firor, President
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
Cove, OR
Sandra Gavutis, Executive Director
C-10 Research & Education Foundation
Newburyport, MA
Laurent Meillon, Director
Capitol Solar Energy LLC
Denver, CO
Elizabeth C. Battocletti, President
The Carmel Group, LLC
Reston, VA
Gwen Ingram, Vice President
The Carrie Dickerson Foundation
Tulsa, OK
Don Timmerman, Roberta Thurstin Timmerman
Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community
Milwaukee, WI
Kieran Suckling
Center for Biological Diversity
Washington, DC
Andy Kimbrell, Executive Director
Center for Food Safety
Washington DC
Lenny Siegel, Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Mountain View, CA
Lucy Law Webster, Executive Director
Center for War/Peace Studies
New York, NY
David Hughes, Executive Director
Citizen Power
Pittsburgh, PA
Deb Katz
Citizens Awareness Network
Shelburne, MA
Janet Greenwald, Co-coordinator
Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping
Albuquerque, NM
Caroline Snyder
Citizens for Sludge-Free Land
North Sandwich, NH
Robert Singleton, Nuclear Issues Chair
Citizens Organized to Defend Austin
Austin, TX
Charlie Higley, Executive Director
Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin
Madison, WI
Pam Solo, President
(Co-convener, TheCLEAN.org)
The Civil Society Institute
Newton, MA
Norm Cohen
Coalition for Peace and Justice
Linwood, NJ
Cristina Castro, Coordinator
CODEPINK NYC
New York, NY
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder
CODEPINK Women for Peace
Washington, DC
Bill Gallegos, Executive Director
Communities for a Better Environment
Huntington Park & Oakland, CA
Tam Hunt, J.D., President,
Community Renewable Solutions LLC
Santa Barbara, CA
John Calandrelli, Chapter Program Director
Connecticut Chapter of Sierra Club
Hartford, CT
Nancy Burton, Director
Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone
Redding, CT
Luke Lundemo, Director
Conscious Living Project
Jackson, MS
Lois Arkin, Executive Director
CRSP Institute for Urban Ecovillages
Los Angeles, CA
Stephen M. Brittle, President
Don't Waste Arizona, Inc.
Phoenix, AZ
Kathryn Barnes, Board of Directors
Don't Waste Michigan - Sherwood Chapter
Sherwood, MI
Lois Barber, Co-founder & Executive Director
EarthAction & 2020 Action
Amherst, MA
Jane E. Magers, Coordinator
Earth Care, Inc
Des Moines, IA
Chris Trepal, Executive Director
Earth Day Coalition
Cleveland, OH
Al Fritsch, SJ
Earth Healing
Ravenna, KY
Lester R. Brown
Earth Policy Institute
Washington, DC
Jim Bell, Director
Ecological Life Systems Inst. Inc.
San Diego, CA
Mahlon Aldridge, Vice President
Ecology Action
Santa Cruz, CA
Cara L. Campbell, Chair
Ecology Party of Florida
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Dan Stafford, Organizing Director
Environmental Action
Denver, CO
William Snape
Environmental Law Program
American University Law School
Washington, DC
Lillian K. Light, President
Environmental Priorities Network
Manhattan Beach, CA
Don Ogden, Producer
The Enviro Show-WXOJ-LP & WMCB
Florence, MA
Jennifer Barker
EORenew/SolWest Fair
Canyon City, OR
Ben Mancini, President
EV Solar Products, Inc.
Chino Valley, AZ
Judi Poulson, Chair
Fairmont, Minnesota USA Peace Group
Fairmont, MN
Linda S. Ochs, Director
Finger Lakes Citizens for the Environment
Waterloo, NY
Dan Brook, Ph.D.
Food for Thought---and Action
San Jose, CA
Jon Blickenstaff, Treasurer
Footprints for Peace
Cincinnati, OH
Nick Mann, Legislative Program Assistant-Environment
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Washington, DC
Richard V. Sidy, President
Gardens for Humanity
Sedona, AZ
Amanda Hill-Attkisson, Managing Director
Georgia Women's Action for New Directions
Atlanta, GA
Peter Meisen, President
Global Energy Network Institute
San Diego, CA
Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Brunswick, ME
Casey Coates Danson, President
Global Possibilities
Los Angeles, CA
Barbara Harris
Granny Peace Brigade NY
New York, NY
Vicky Steinitz
Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace Coalition
Boston, MA
Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director
Green America
Washington, DC
Jennifer Olaranna Viereck, Executive Director
HOME: Healing Ourselves & Mother Earth
N. Bennington, VT
Bonnie A. New, MD MPH; Director
Health Professionals for Clean Air
Houston, TX
Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, Program Director
Hibakusha Stories
New York, NY
David Morris, Vice President
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Minneapolis, MN
Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director
International Center for Technology Assessment
Washington, DC
Victor Menotti, Executive Director
International Forum on Globalization
San Francisco, CA
Christian May, Founder
iSupportSolar
Frederick, MD
Daniel Ziskin, PhD; President
Jews Of The Earth
Boulder, CO
Andy McDonald, Director
Kentucky Solar Partnership
Appalachia - Science in the Public Interest
Frankfurt, KY
Kay Tiffany, Steering Committee
Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition
Lexington, MA
Paul Gallimore, Director
Long Branch Environmental Education Center
Leicester, NC
Greg Mello
Los Alamos Study Group
Albuquerque, NM
Claudine Cremer, Owner
Meadow Cove Farm
Weaverville, NC
Linda Belgrave, Secretary
Miami for Peace & Justice
Coral Gables, FL
Barbara Jennings, CSJ, Coordinator
Midwest Coalition for Responsible Investment
St. Louis, MO
Mark Haim, Chair
Missourians for Safe Energy
Columbia, MO
Judy Treichel, Executive Director
Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force
Las Vegas, NV
Lilia Diaz, Outreach Director
New Energy Economy
Santa Fe, NM
Penelope McMullen, SL
New Mexico Justice and Peace Coordinator
Loretto Community
Santa Fe, NM
Carolyn Treadway
No New Nukes
Normal, IL
Wells Eddleman, Staff Scientist
North Carolina Citizens Research Group
Durham, NC
Larry Bell, President
North East Arizona Energy Services Company
Concho, AZ
Barbara Haack, Member
North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice
Ipswich, MA
David Borris, President
North Suburban Peace Initiative and Chicago Area Peace Action
Evanston, IL
Nina Bell, J.D., Executive Director
Northwest Environmental Advocates
Portland, OR
Alice Slater, NY Director
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
New York, NY
David Krieger, President
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Santa Barbara, CA
Wendy Oser, Director
Nuclear Guardianship Project
Berkeley, CA
Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors
The Nuclear Resister
Tucson, AZ
Arn Specter, Editor
The Nuclear Review
Philadelphia, PA
Glenn Carroll, Coordinator
Nuclear Watch South
Atlanta, GA
Chris Daum, President
Oasis Montana Inc. Renewable Energy Supply & Design
Stevensville, MT
Philip Tymon, Administrative Director
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
Occidental, CA
Patricia A. Marida, Chair-Nuclear Issues Committee
Ohio Sierra Club
Columbus, OH
Dave Robinson, Executive Director
Pax Christi USA
Washington, DC
Judi Friedman, Chair
PACE (People's Action for Clean Energy, Inc.)
Canton, CT
Aviv Goldsmith, President
Precursor Systems, Inc.
Spotsylvania, VA
Launce Rake, Communications Director
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
Carson City/Las Vegas/Reno, Nevada
Elizabeth O'Nan, Director
Protect All Children's Environment
Marion, NC
Joy Blackwood
Public Health Educator
Landover, MD
Anne Mitchell, General Secretary
Quaker Earthcare Witness
Burlington, VT
Tor Allen, Executive Director
The Rahus Institute
Sebastopol, CA
Michael Welch, volunteer
Redwood Alliance
Arcata, CA
Tena Willemsma
Religious Leaders for Coalfield Justice
Winchester, VA
Quintin Bullis, GC-Sales/Installer Solar Energy Systems
Renaissance Developers
Tunnel, NY
Ron Leonard, Founder
RenewableEnergyCoalition.org
Woodstock, NY
Gordian Raacke, Executive Director
Renewable Energy Long Island
East Hampton, NY
Andreas Karelas, Executive Director
RE-volv
San Francisco, CA
Peggy Kurtz, Co-coordinator
Rockland Sierra Club
Nyack, NY
Russell Lowes, Research Director
Tucson, AZ
Clare Ritchie, Chairperson
Salem Peace Committee
Salem, MA
Elaine Holder, President
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
Mothers for Peace Action Committee
San Luis Obispo, CA
David Brown Kinloch, President
Shaker Landing Hydro Associates, Inc.
Louisville, KY
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director
The Shalom Center
Philadelphia, PA
Dennis R. Winters, Chair
Sierra Club - Pennsylvania Chapter
Philadelphia, PA
Mark Dickson, Owner
Simple Power, LLC (Renewable Energy Design and Installation)
Stevensville, MT
Sr. Ellen Orf, CPPS; Leadership Team member
Sisters of the Most Precious Blood
O'Fallon, MO
Diana Oleskevich CSJA, Justice Coordinator
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province
St. Louis, MO
Scott Sklar, President
The Stella Group, Ltd.
Arlington, VA
Stuart Magruder, AIA, LEED, Principal
Studio Nova A Architects, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA
Erika Schneider, Outreach Coordinator
Sundance Power Systems
Weaverville, NC
Ken Bossong, Executive Director
SUN DAY Campaign
Takoma Park, MD
John F Neville, President
Sustainable Arizona
(statewide), AZ
Rona Fried, CEO
SustainableBusiness.com
Huntington Station, NY
Ron Hubert, President
Sustainable Economic Development Initiative of Northern Arizona
(Managing Director - Hozho International)
Flagstaff, AZ
Karen Hadden, Executive Director
Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition
Austin, TX
Melissa Everett, Ph.D., Executive Director
Sustainable Hudson Valley
Kingston, NY
Charles Jansen, Initiating Group Member
Transition Asheville
Asheville, NC
H. Patricia Hynes, Chair - Board
Traprock Center for Peace and Justice
Greenfield, MA
Chuck Learned, Director
Tri Local Returns
Madison, WI
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs
Livermore, CA
Dr. Brian Moench, President
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment
Salt Lake City, UT
Dr. Don Richardson
Western NC Physicians For Social Responsibility
Brevard, NC
Chris Herman, Owner
Winter Sun Design
(Interim President - Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative)
Edmonds, WA
Diane Farsetta, PhD, Executive Director
Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
Madison, WI
Virginia Pratt, Chair
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Boston, MA
Suzanne Maxx, Founder/President/Ex.Dir.
World Team Now
Malibu, CA
Nathalie Worthington, Owner
Worthington Studios
St. Petersburg, FL
LATEST NEWS
US Wealth Gap Report Fuels Call to 'Unrig Our Tax Code'
"This report should add urgency in Congress as the Trump tax scam expires next year and we negotiate future tax legislation," said Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse.
Oct 02, 2024
As a Capitol Hill battle over the "GOP tax scam" looms, U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse on Wednesday pointed to a new nonpartisan government analysis about soaring wealth inequality as proof of the need for serious reforms.
Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sought the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, which details trends in the distribution of family wealth—including projected Social Security retirement and disability benefits—in the United States from 1989 to 2022.
"Adjusted for inflation, the wealth held by families in the United States almost quadrupled between 1989 and 2022, rising from $52 trillion (in 2022 dollars) to $199 trillion, at an average rate of about 4% per year," the CBO found. "Over that 33-year period, family wealth was unevenly distributed, and that inequality increased."
"In 2022, families in the top 10% of the distribution held 60% of all wealth, up from 56% in 1989, and families in the top 1% of the distribution held 27%, up from 23% in 1989," the office said. "The share of wealth held by the rest of the families in the top half of the distribution shrank from 37% to 33% over the same period. Families in the bottom half of the distribution held 6% of all wealth in both 1989 and 2022."
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The report comes as Congress prepares for a tax debate due to next year's expiration of policies signed into law in 2017 by then-President Donald Trump, the Republican facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in this November's election.
Throughout the current election cycle, Trump and congressional Republicans have campaigned on extending policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and also benefited wealthy individuals.
"This report should add urgency in Congress as the Trump tax scam expires next year and we negotiate future tax legislation," Whitehouse said of the CBO analysis. "Do we want to reward billionaires, who have already captured so much of the nation's wealth, or do we want to de-corrupt the tax code, ensure the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, and reduce the deficit, all while making necessary investments to better the lives of all Americans?"
Whitehouse noted that the report also comes amid concerns about the future of Social Security. Citing the CBO analysis, his office detailed:
- Social Security is essential to the retirement security of low middle- and lower-income families: Without this earned benefits program, the bottom half of families would hold just 3% of overall wealth, while the top 10% of families would control nearly 70%.
- If Social Security were allowed to go insolvent, families in the bottom half of the wealth distribution would lose 10% of their wealth, while the wealth of the top 1% of families would be essentially unchanged.
"Social Security is a bedrock of our retirement system and ensures millions of seniors can retire with dignity," Whitehouse said. "Seniors earned their benefits throughout their working lives, but the program is now facing a looming cash flow problem. By making the wealthy pay their fair share, we can protect Social Security forever and unrig our tax code—exactly what my Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act would do."
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The CBO's Social Security analysis, released last week, found that for workers now in their 30s and 40s, the average annual benefit cut would be around $3,500 a year—and the GOP's proposed changes wouldn't even extend the program's solvency.
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Smith's sprawling and highly anticipated 165-page motion—which was partly unsealed Wednesday by presiding U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan—states that Trump "asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct. Not so."
Trump—who in August 2023 was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights—contends that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president and not as a private individual.
In July, the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing justices—including three Trump appointees—ruled that the ex-president is entitled to "absolute immunity" for "official acts" taken while he was in office, raising questions about the future of this case. According to Smith's motion:
Although the defendant was the incumbent president during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one. Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted—a function in which the defendant, as president, had no official role.
In Trump v. United States... the Supreme Court held that presidents are immune from prosecution for certain official conduct—including the defendant's use of the Justice Department in furtherance of his scheme, as was alleged in the original indictment—and remanded to this court to determine whether the remaining allegations against the defendant are immunized.
The answer to that question is no. This motion provides a comprehensive account of the defendant's private criminal conduct; sets forth the legal framework created by Trump for resolving immunity claims; applies that framework to establish that none of the defendant's charged conduct is immunized because it either was unofficial or any presumptive immunity is rebutted; and requests the relief the government seeks, which is, at bottom, this: that the court determine that the defendant must stand trial for his private crimes as would any other citizen.
Smith's filing details what Trump told various people in his inner circle, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, his now-disgraced and twice-disbarred lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and leading White House and Republican Party figures—some of whose names remain undisclosed.
The motion also highlights Trump's actions on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. Trump is still pushing his "Big Lie" that Democrats stole the 2020 election; his running mate, U.S. Sen. J D Vance (R-Ohio), on Tuesday
refused to acknowledge that Trump lost to Biden when he was asked about the election during a vice presidential debate against Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
"Upon receiving a phone call alerting him that Pence had been taken to a secure location, [PERSON 15] rushed to the dining room to inform [Trump] in hopes that the defendant would take action to ensure Pence's safety," the filing states. "Instead, after [P15] delivered the news, the defendant looked at him and said only, 'So what?'"
Smith argued that deceit was central to Trump's efforts, specifically, "the defendant's and co-conspirators' knowingly false claims of election fraud," which they used to purvey the Big Lie.
The motion states:
When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office. With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (the "targeted states"). His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, to obstruct Congress' certification of the election by using the defendant's fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6, 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.
For a historic second time, Trump was
impeached by the House of Representatives following his effort to subvert the election, although he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung
blasted Smith's motion as "unconstitutional" and "falsehood-ridden."
"Deranged Jack Smith and Washington D.C. Radical Democrats are hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power," Cheung said in a statement aping Trump's habit of overcapitalizing words. "President Trump is dominating, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are freaking out. This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes."
Democracy defenders, however, welcomed Smith's ruling.
"Jack Smith has shown us yet again the merits of his case against former President Trump," said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and co-chair of the Not Above the Law Coalition.
"In his filing, Smith clarifies that the alleged criminal actions occurred while Trump was acting as a private citizen," Gilbert added. "The desperate plan that Trump embarked on to try and overturn the results of a legitimate election was reprehensible, irresponsible, and—the document shows—criminal. Accountability to the American people and our democracy is our only path forward."
Judge Chutkan unsealed the motion five weeks before Trump will face off against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in a tight presidential election. If he wins, Trump will have the power to order the Department of Justice to drop the criminal charges against him.
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"A cease-fire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups."
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Nearly 100 U.S. healthcare providers who have volunteered in the Gaza Strip over the past year sent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a Wednesday letter detailing "the massive human toll from Israel's attack" and urging the administration to "end this madness now!"
Israel has been waging war on Gaza since the Hamas-led attack that killed over 1,100 people last year. During that time, the physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives who signed the letter have collectively spent 254 weeks volunteering in hospitals and clinics throughout the besieged enclave.
As of Wednesday, Israeli forces have killed at least 41,689 Palestinians in Gaza and injured another 96,625, according to local officials. Thousands more remain missing in the rubble of civilian infrastructure. Israel—which also launched a ground invasion of Lebanon this week—faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
"This letter and the appendix show probative evidence that the human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza's population," the health workers wrote to Biden and Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee for the November election.
"Our government must act immediately to prevent an even worse catastrophe than what has already befallen the people of Gaza and Israel," they argued. "A cease-fire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and international humanitarian law. We also believe it is the right thing to do."
"Gaza was the first time I held a baby's brains in my hand. The first of many."
Even before the October 7, 2023 attack, the United States had given Israel billions of dollars in annual military aid. Throughout Israel's assault on Gaza—and now Lebanon—the Biden administration has continued to provide weapons and diplomatic support.
The American medical volunteers' new letter—published on a website that also features a July missive along with similar ones that Canadian and U.K. health workers sent to their governments—shares accounts from individual signatories. Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, an OB-GYN, said that "I saw so many stillbirths and maternal deaths that could have been easily prevented if the hospitals had been functioning normally."
Those who survived birth faced a warzone where thousands of children have died. Last month, Gaza's Ministry of Health released a 649-page document with names and ages of Palestinians killed in the past year—and the first 14 pages are babies.
"Every day I saw babies die," said Asma Taha, pediatric nurse practitioner. "They had been born healthy. Their mothers were so malnourished that they could not breastfeed, and we lacked formula or clean water to feed them, so they starved."
Israeli bombings in the past year have claimed thousands of lives. Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic and hand surgeon, said that "Gaza was the first time I held a baby's brains in my hand. The first of many."
The letter to Biden and Harris states:
Children are universally considered innocents in armed conflict. However, every single signatory to this letter saw children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them. Specifically, every one of us who worked in an emergency, intensive care, or surgical setting treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head or chest on a regular or even a daily basis. It is impossible that such widespread shooting of young children throughout Gaza, sustained over the course of an entire year is accidental or unknown to the highest Israeli civilian and military authorities.
President Biden and Vice President Harris, we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.
"I've never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources," said Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and critical care surgeon and the letter's organizer. "Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty."
The letter notes that "Israel has destroyed more than half of Gaza's healthcare resources and has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinian healthcare workers, more than 1 out of every 20 healthcare workers in Gaza. At the same time, healthcare needs have increased massively from the lethal combination of military violence, malnutrition, disease, and displacement."
It also challenges Israeli forces' attempts to justify attacking the enclave's medical infrastructure, stressing that "not once did any of us see any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza's hospitals or other healthcare facilities."
"We urge you to see that Israel has systematically and deliberately devastated Gaza's entire healthcare system, and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder," the American volunteers wrote, describing Palestinian healthcare workers as "among the most traumatized people in Gaza, and perhaps in the entire world."
While welcoming the administration's efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting, they emphasized that "the United States can impose a cease-fire on the warring parties by simply stopping arms shipments to Israel, and announcing that we will participate in an international arms embargo on both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups."
"President Biden and Vice President Harris, we are 99 American physicians and nurses who have witnessed crimes beyond comprehension," they added. "Crimes that we cannot believe you wish to continue supporting. Please meet with us to discuss what we saw, and why we feel American policy in the Middle East must change immediately."
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