May, 07 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Paul Kawika Martin, Peace Action, 951-217-7285 cell, pmartin@peace-action.org
Kevin Martin, Peace Action, 510-501-3345 cell, kmartin@peaceaction.org
Peace Action: Once Again Trump Scoffs Congressional War Powers with Republican Help
WASHINGTON
In response to the veto by President Trump yesterday of a bill (S.J.Res.68) to reclaim congressional war powers in regards to Iran and the anticipated failure today of the Senate override vote, Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Peace Action, released the following statement:
"President Trump's seventh veto yesterday represents the fifth time he's ignored bipartisan restraint on him for conducting or selling arms to support unconstitutional wars. The Senate vote today failed to garner the 67 votes needed to override the president's veto because most Republicans continue to ignore the supermajority of voters who oppose a war of choice with Iran.
"Congress passed this bill to confirm what the constitution makes clear: any president, especially President Trump, must come to Congress before going to war with Iran and stop any unauthorized military activities.
"The pandemic clearly shows that expensive endless wars make Americans less safe as they take funds from critical needs like health care.
"The failed policy of maximum provocation towards Iran keeps the U.S. on the precipice of another disastrous war of choice in the Middle East. President Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the successful Iran nuclear agreement, which blocked all the pathways to a nuclear weapons and imposition of crippling sanctions on Iran, created high tensions and slammed the door on diplomacy. We need conversations not a catastrophe."
Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.
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The paper's author found that the five largest military contracts to major tech firms between 2018 and 2022 "had contract ceilings totaling at least $53 billion combined."
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The report—entitledHow Big Tech and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Military-Industrial Complex—was authored by Roberto J. González, a professor of cultural anthropology at San José State University, for the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs.
The new paper comes amid the contentious rise of AI-powered lethal autonomous weapons systems, or killer robots; increasing reliance upon AI on battlefields from Gaza to Ukraine; and growing backlash from tech workers opposed to their companies' products and services being used to commit or enable war crimes.
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The report highlights the rise of a new class of billion-dollar military contractors, "a combination of gargantuan tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and hundreds of smaller, pre-IPO startup companies supported by VC firms."
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A lack of transparency is obscuring the true value of some of the largest military contracts to tech companies.
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About 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Tennessee are voting on whether to unionize with the United Auto Workers. Labor journalist @hamiltonnolan says it's the most important union vote in years and could be the "first domino" in a wider push to organize the auto industry in the South. pic.twitter.com/RWFnO5KznI
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 17, 2024
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