Jonathan Tasini is reporting some breaking news at Daily Kos about brand new Bring The Troops Home legislation coming from the House.
At 2 p.m. Eastern today, Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee (co-chairs of Progressive caucus, which has roughly 64 members) and Maxine Waters (chair of Out of Iraq Caucus, roughly 74 members) are introducing comprehensive End the War legislation, answering Bush's challenge that Democrats provide alternative proposals (the announcement will come in the House Radio/TV Gallery). It's called The Bring the Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Restoration Act.It's important to note the caucuses that are supporting the legislation. The sheer number of those caucus members who are already backing the legislation is impressive.
UPDATE: Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey's diary is now up at Daily Kos:
This bill's for you: "The Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act of 2007"
The Congress has already appropriated funding that will support our troops and keep this occupation going for at least another six months. That funding instead should be used to finance an aggressive withdrawal plan that brings our troops home to their families. Our bill would do exactly that.
Our plan will also...
1 Withdraw all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq within six months from date of enactment.
2 Prohibit any further funding to deploy, or continue to deploy U.S. troops in Iraq. The bill does, however, allow for funding to be used, as needed, to ensure a safe withdrawal of all US military personnel and contractors, diplomatic consultations. Funding may also be used for the increased training and equipping of Iraqi and international security forces.
3 Accelerate, during the six month transition, training of a permanent Iraqi security force.
4 Authorize, if requested by the Iraqi government, U.S. support for an international stabilization force. Such a force would be funded for no longer than two years, and be combined with economic and humanitarian assistance.
5 Guarantee full health care funding, including mental health, for U.S. veterans of military operations in Iraq and other conflicts.
In addition the bill would:
6 Rescind the Congressional Authorization for the War in Iraq.
7 Prohibit the construction of permanent US military bases in the country.
8 Finally, we believe that Iraqi oil belongs to the Iraqis. Once the oil is in the international market, the U.S. will certainly have access to our share. That’s why our bill ensures that the U.S. has no long-term control over Iraqi oil.
Our plan, with the exception of Veterans’ benefits, will cost the American people pennies on the dollar as compared to continuing the occupation for two more years. It will save lives, bodies, and minds, and it will give Iraq back to the Iraqis. It is an important step in regaining our credibility in the region and throughout the world, and provides the President, and this Congress, with a comprehensive way to respond to the majority of Americans who want our troops to come home.
I will update this diary thoughout the day when we have a bill number, as well as when we are able to get the text of the bill online. You have remained at the forefront of opposing this war from the beginning, and you have held those in Washington accountable. Thank you for all that you have done, and thank you for helping me to get this bill approved.
In solidarity,
-Lynn
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5 comments:
Organization? Dude, I'm just one person.
Keeping the troops there certainly hasn't worked so why leave our innocent troops in harms way, for something that hasn't worked yet?
Snake hunters, I have studied the culture, and one of the reasons I opposed Bush's war from before it began is that I knew that overthrowing Saddam would remove the cork from the bottle. The forces we have in Iraq now are insufficient to stop the violence, so why give the warring factions a temporary respite from killing each other by targeting our kids instead?
tomcat,
Good question. I have studied the culture at some length, especially the religious aspects. After 9/11, I became a much better student.
I see 'Snake Hunters' recommending that we all study "their traits" and "kill culture", which I assume means to look at the Arab culture's strong predisposition to resist change and to fight off anyone who dares to change them and the Shia predisposition to strict theocracy and resisting acculturation. I would ask 'Snake hunters' why our own CIA and government specialists, and especially the Bush administration knew so dreadfully little about the culture(s) before they started to make blood-sponges out of our own men and women for a cause in which they applied (not even) half-measures. It was a loser before it began because no one in this country understands what they're fighting for or against.
And the way we've bungled things, we have create more division and isolation for our country.
If we truly understand the cultures we're dealing with, we'll begin to try and understand the meaning of the most powerful words on earth: "We're sorry." Reconciliation, understanding, cooperation, education, apology, redployment...these are words that should be associated with OUR cultural traits instead of avarice, vengeance, injustice, lying, and violence-as-a-first-resort.
I think Snake Hunters is right about getting to know one another and so are you, Tomcat, particularly when you and Larry point out that Bush's strategy simply doesn't work.
It's a no-brainer that there are terrorist camps and people blowing up Mosques. How do we learn? By watching the news. It's always easy to see the worst in them by flipping on FOX. But what do we TRULY understand about eachother - is it easier just to kill them than to try to understand and learn about who they are?
It's going to take a lot more than this folly Bush calls a war in Iraq to end this madness in the world.
We can and should understand their LIFE culture instead of honing in only on their "kill culture."
Jude, I fully agree. The vast majority of Muslims worldwide are peaceful and reject the platform of the fundamentalist jihadists. The problem here is not one between Islam and Christianity. It is a problem between the fundamentalist jihadists in both religions. Our premiere fundamentalist jihadist is named GW Bush.
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