#but I know nada of substance about Palestine; my voice is just gonna add to the noise

[medicinemane]

Hey listen, this is something important to me so I'm just gonna ask you to consider doing this

I just spent however long writing something custom (which I'll put after a read more) cause I actually had things I want to say, but you don't need to do that, they've got a preset message you can use if you want

I've been following this invasion since day 1, and I've been actually asking for exactly this for a while now... just with no one to say it to

If you've got questions about what this is even about, ask me

If you've got concerns, tell em to me, I got answers

I'm not asking you to just blindly do this (though I won't tell you no if you want to), this is important to me, I know a fair bit about the subject, I am more than happy to talk to you about it

You want the summary of things though, it's that russian planes bomb Ukrainian civilians (like just today there was a story about a literal playground being bombed, along with the usual apartments) and our current policies won't allow them to use US missiles to strike russian airfields (and NATO allies won't either because we basically get to make this call)

People are dying, changing this policy will help with that, that's why I'm asking you to ask the White House to change this

Anyway, what I wrote below the break

I am grateful for the supplemental aid package President Biden provided Ukraine in April, but restrictions on US weapons use against valid military targets in Russia is hampering Ukraine's ability to defend both it's military and civilians (and let's be blunt, NATO allies like the UK or Germany are not going to authorize their long range munitions to be used unless the US does, we clearly set the rules here)

I've been following this invasion since day 1, every day I check what's been happening in Ukraine. I've followed through the Kharkiv offensive, followed as NATO crossed "red line" after "red line" (Stingers were a red line, then tanks were a red line, and of course F-16s were a major red line… yet Russia never acted once we sent them), followed as Speaker Johnson delayed military aid for months with partisan politics, up to today where I continue to follow Ukraine (for instance just today a 14 year old girl was killed by Russian bombs, fired from planes that took off from airfields we refuse to let Ukraine fire upon)

I understand escalation management, I'm not oblivious to why this administration has taken a cautious course, but between permitting Ukraine to fire US short range munitions shortly after Russia's attempts to move towards Kharkiv (a good choice which blunted that offensive and, again, resulted in no reprisals aside from more attacks on Ukrainian civilians… which happen no matter what); as well as Ukraine's counter offensive into the Kursk region of Russia (which invasion of Russian territory is one of the places Russian doctrine explicitly allows the use of nuclear weapons… and yet… again, nothing), there's been a strong demonstration that the White House's hesitancy to permit the use of long range weapons only serves to get Ukrainian civilians killed

This isn't just my opinion as an American citizen either, the retired Gen. Ben Hodges has repeatedly called for this. Every time I listen to him speak these days without fail he says not to "shoot the arrows, but to shoot the archer", which he explicitly states that he means that striking Russian airbases deep in Russian territory with long range missiles like ATACMS is preferable by far to forcing Ukraine to attempt to intercept incoming drones, missiles, and guided bombs

Ukraine has show itself to be a clever and steadfast ally. They have done so much not only to defend themselves, but to also achieve a major win for US and NATO security, the weakening of Putin's Russia

Thanks to Ukraine, Russia's ability to wage war on NATO neighbors has been decimated, and Russia's geopolitical influence around the world has been severely decreased, and thanks to US and EU cooperation the EU's dependence on Russian gas has dropped to almost nothing. Yet nothing is set in stone, we aren't over the finish line and Ukraine still needs our support, and currently the single best piece of support we can offer is a simple policy change, to let Ukraine strike valid military targets in Russia

This war goes beyond securing Europe against the single greatest threat to them, Russia; our actions here will also strongly impact China and Taiwan in the coming years. There's no way that this administration isn't just as aware as I am (or likely more so) that China is paying very close attention to how we treat our allies… do we support them or leave them to invaders for fear of escalation?

We as NATO truthfully have done a middling job, oscillating between staunch support and then starving Ukraine of the resources and policies they need to win (often because of partisan politics in the US and EU from politicians who seem a little too friendly towards Putin, and far too disdainful for Ukraine)

It's time to finish strong. The past is past, we can't change it, but we get to choose who we are now. I want to be part of an America who stands up for freedom, who supports our allies, and who refuses to let Russia continue their attacks on civilians

Let Ukraine use our weapons on all military targets in Russia! The only range restriction I want in place is the range of the system in question. Let our ally use our military aid to decimate Russian airbases and Russian aircraft, which are the single greatest threat to Ukrainian civilians!

Do the right thing, do what military men like retired Gen. Ben Hodges keep asking this administration to. Every red line has been crossed, both by NATO and Ukraine and we've seen that Russia's most powerful weapon is their saber rattling

Had I known where to write, I would have written much sooner, but now that I know I'm tempted to write every week till this changes (though don't delay like that, every day puts more Ukrainian lives at our feet, our fault that these civilians were killed due to our failure to give the permission so desperately needed to destroy the aircraft killing them). This is a deeply important issue to me, and based off this administration's actions up till now I know that everyone must understand it's importance even beyond Ukraine (Iranian drones, North Korean artillery… this isn't happening in isolation)

I understand this policy comes from a place of good intentions, to keep the world from facing nuclear annihilation. This is the first war of it's kind with a nuclear power fighting it, I understand the caution… but regions of Kursk are controlled by Ukraine and Putin barely acknowledges it, or weapons were used to strike military targets in Belgorod in order to protect Kharkiv and they were only met with more empty bluster

Give Ukraine permission to strike military targets in Russia with our weapons

Razom For Ukraine has made a website to help people in the US contact their government to let them know that Ukraine should be able to strike back.