1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Today marks twenty-five years since the attacks of September 11, 2001. In the years since, the United States has remained engaged in military conflict across the Middle East — in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and now in escalating confrontations involving Iran. A quarter-century later, we are still at war. The human cost is staggering. An estimated 4.5 million people have been killed in the wars that followed 9/11, the vast majority of them civilians. Entire communities have been displaced. The region remains destabilized, and the conditions that radicalize new generations of fighters continue to be produced by our own military presence. These wars also carry a direct cost to American taxpayers and to global economic stability. Trillions of dollars have been spent on conflicts that have not made us safer, and the ongoing military commitments in the region create the kind of uncertainty that ripples through energy markets, trade, and financial systems around the world. I am writing to ask you to support legislation and policy that ends open-ended military commitments in the Middle East, prioritizes diplomatic solutions over military escalation, requires Congressional authorization before any new military action in the region, and directs resources toward rebuilding and stabilization rather than further conflict. We have had twenty-five years. It is time to choose a different path.