Veterans For Peace, Daniel Ellsberg Chapter92, Seattle endorses the Cancel RIMPAC campaign for the following reasons:

1– We agree that: ” …The US uses RIMPAC to strengthen the abilities of 26 of its allies’ militaries to wage wars of aggression around the world, as threats of war between major military powers continue to rise. Through weapons testing and war-making, defense contractors and fossil fuel corporations reap hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Meanwhile, our tax dollars are spent on war and occupation not on the basic housing, food, employment and healthcare needs of our communities. The US military occupation of Hawai’i is a violation of native Hawaiian sovereignty. RIMPAC leads to environmental destruction, violence against women, and a gross neglect of the day to day needs of people all over the world by advancing US-led wars.”

— from “What is RIMPAC” on the campaign website (https://www.resistusledwarmovement.com/cancel-rimpac.html)

Our mission as Veterans For Peace is to:

1— Increase public awareness of the causes and costs of war                                                                              

2– Restrain our governments from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations

3– Resist racism and repression in our home communities

4– Oppose the militarization of law enforcement

5– End the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons

6– Seek justice for veterans and victims of war

7– Abolish war as an instrument of national policy.

RIMPAC is on the wrong side of all of these.

The exercises themselves are addressed in # 1, 2, 5 and 7. The effects on the environment and people of weapons testing, pollution, military tourism and violation of local self-determination are addressed in # 3, 4 and 6.