On May 28th, 2019, anti-war activists from Rhode Island, some affiliated with the burgeoning Rhode Island Peace Alliance (RIPA), met with Sen. Jack Reed (D., RI) to discuss US foreign policy. Reed is the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee and is known for his support for Rhode Island military industry –notably manufacturers of nuclear-armed and -powered submarines–and his calls for a return to pre-Trump defense protocol.
For example, Reed has called for more briefings on the US’s increasingly aggressive posture towards Iran, though naturally has not declared anything approaching unequivocal opposition to war with the besieged nation of 82 million. Similarly, both Reed and his colleague Rep. David Cicilline (D., RI) have demanded that any invasion of Venezuela be approved by the congress, effectively reiterating what is already the constitutional procedure for warmaking. Neither of them has questioned why the US regularly discusses the invasion of a distant, sovereign nation unfortunately ensnared by US orbit since the Monroe Doctrine. Adherence to procedure is as far as Reed and Cicilline seem to go.
In light of these and other concerns, the aforementioned activists delivered the following letter to Reed during the course of a long conversation:
Brown War Watch 
Sent from my iPhone
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