FEINGOLD, McGOVERN, JONES-INTRODUCE LEGISLATION-TIMETABLE FOR DEPLOYING US TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN

Source: After Downing Street

FEINGOLD, McGOVERN, JONES INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE TIMETABLE FOR DEPLOYING U.S. TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN

Open-Ended Military Presence in Afghanistan is Counterproductive to our National Security Goals

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and U.S. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Walter Jones (R-NC) announced they are introducing legislation requiring the president to develop a flexible timetable to draw down U.S. troops from Afghanistan, in order to enhance our national security and reduce the burden on our armed forces and on taxpayers. The bipartisan, bicameral legislation would require the president to provide a plan for drawing down our forces in Afghanistan. The legislation also increases oversight by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) over work done by private contractors with records of waste, fraud and abuse in order to safeguard U.S. taxpayer dollars.

“At the listening sessions I have held throughout Wisconsin over the last several months, people across the political spectrum have asked why we continue to have a massive military presence in Afghanistan,” said Senator Feingold. “A large, open-ended presence in Afghanistan is counterproductive to our global fight against al Qaeda. Rather than pour resources into a nation-building strategy in a country that isn’t even al Qaeda’s base, we should develop a timetable to end our massive presence in Afghanistan, so we are better able to go after al Qaeda’s global network. We need to be as agile as al Qaeda and we can’t do that if we are bogged down in Afghanistan.”

“After 8 long years, hundreds of billions of dollars and – most importantly – thousands of our brave soldiers killed or wounded, it is past time to re-examine this strategy. Instead of nation-building in Afghanistan, I believe we should be doing some more nation-building here at home. The American people deserve accountability – in terms of how and when our troops will be returned to their families and in terms of how taxpayer dollars are being spent,” said Representative McGovern.

“I believe the war on terror needs to be thought of in a different way. I believe there are other strategies that could be used, as I have discussed with several former generals. As recent as yesterday I visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Bethesda Naval Academy. Being there and seeing the true cost of war only strengthens my belief that it is time to change our strategy and reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan. It is time to put an end to the tremendous stress we are placing on our military and their families,” said Representative Jones.

Read more: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/51496

I can believe in! :kick:

This fiasco has been going on for too long. I don't want for the US to end up like the Soviet Union did, when they got involved in Afghanistan.

Please!

I want our troops home by the end of THIS year... just bug out. I would rather see our funds going towards sending people and aid to afganistan/pakistan and working with regional peacekeepers to rebuild infrastructure, etc We should be focusing on saying sorry to civilains for making their lives worse(and killing them for no reason)...and the guns and bombs can be replaced with food and building materials...

oh, I know...I am WAY too much of an idealist where humanity is concerned... but I have hope!

Yeah...

But it at least brings the subject up again.

Imagine if the MSM covered and "pushed" this like they do the tiny, obnoxious Teabagger movement and the tiny brained obnoxious Sarah Palin!

quality of life studies. What exactly are we fighting for? Habit, methinks.

It could be made more palatable to most of the sensible right and the deficit hawks in all of the parties.

of the U.S.

Congress gets to declare war, a Constitutional power it has voted more than once to delegate to the POTUS. Whether that is Constitutional or not, who knows? I guess it may be.

But, once war is declared, I don't think Congress gets to tell the POTUS how to run the war. It sure can stop or limit funding, and set a deadline for doing that.

But demanding that the POTUS produce a timetable for withdrawal seems sketchy "Constitution-wise."

Don't know why I still worry about conforming to that shredded document. Habit, I guess.




ETA: Of course, I support the sentiments expressed by Feingold, et al. Terrorism doesn't need wars. It need fantastic intelligence gathering and, for want of a better term, fantastic law enforcement. But, I do worry about the COTUS.