Can we make this success permanent!?

 

Dear Paolo,

🙌 We’re winning! 🙌 The Biden Administration just paused a $23 billion transfer of F-35s fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates AND a massive weapons sale — $519 million from Raytheon alone — to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Let’s make this success permanent! Thank President Biden and Secretary Blinken and tell them to permanently block weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 

At a Raytheon quarterly earnings call earlier this week, CEO Greg Hayes tried to reassure stockholders worried about Biden's hold on the $519 million sale. His grotesque words encapsulate the attitude that war profiteers have towards the people that they harm. “Look... peace is not going to break out in the Middle East anytime soon,” he said. “I think it remains an area where we'll continue to see solid growth.”  Not to be outdone, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet stated: “There's no better way to get a tighter bond with an ally than sell them jet fighter aircraft.”

These quotes are disgusting and they reveal that these ultra-powerful CEOs believe that nothing is fundamentally going to change for them in the long run. They are confident that the pauses in weapons sales are only temporary and they will continue to see their profits soar during the Biden administration. With one short comment, they exposed how the war economy actually works: weapons companies get rich and make wealthy allies regardless of the number of human lives lost. Let’s show them they are very, very wrong: Tell Biden and Blinken to permanently block weapons sales to Saudi and the UAE!

It’s companies like Raytheon that are preventing peace in Yemen and now is the time to make a permanent stand against war for profit!  Add your name to our petition to Biden and Blinken thanking them for pausing the sales and asking them to permanently block arms deals to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Yemen can’t wait!

As we celebrate today, we send our wishes to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin: may they have a year full of profit losses that make the world a safer, more peaceful place. If we make our voices heard, Biden will end these arms sales entirely, and hopefully, we will make some war profiteers very, very sad! 

Toward peace,

Ariel, Carley, Danaka, Angela, Ann, Cody, Ciara, Emily, Farida, Grace, Jodie, Kelly, Kelsey, Leila, Leonardo, Marcy,  Maxine, Mary, Medea, Michelle, Nancy, Paki, Sana, and Teri

P.S. CODEPINK is hiring! Check out our open positions!

P.P.S. Check out our weekly CODEPINK podcast on Spotify!

Ariel, Carley, and Danaka, CODEPINK <info@codepink.org>