Peace Action of New York State LTE in New York Times

 In Blogroll, military budget, Nuclear Weapons, Peace Action, troops, Veterans

Alicia Godsberg, Executive Director of Peace Action of New York State, had a sharp letter to the editor published in yesterday’s New York Times on cutting nuclear weapons spending (it’s the fourth letter down, text also below).

To the Editor:

The military budget needs to be cut, but your editorial takes aim at the wrong place. Instead of cuts in pay and benefits for our soldiers, cuts should come from the billions spent on nuclear weapons.

Debate in Washington dismisses almost $700 billion in spending over 10 years on nuclear weapons. New nuclear-capable submarines have an estimated price tag of $116 billion, and a new nuclear-capable bomber could cost $3.7 billion.

Additionally, new nuclear weapon facilities at an estimated $10 billion are on the way. And what for? Nuclear weapons are unable to protect Americans from today’s threats, and President Obama has stated that the United States seeks the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.

The crisis in spending is a crisis of priorities. To cut the pay and benefits of our military would be shameful when wasteful spending on nuclear weapons needs to be cut instead.

ALICIA GODSBERG
Executive Director
Peace Action New York State
New York, Sept. 27, 2011

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