USA Today: Reps. Abercrombie, Kucinich to introduce Iraq withdrawal

Time for U.S. to withdraw
By Neil Abercrombie and Dennis J. Kucinich
Posted 5/16/2005 8:42 PM

Forty-one months after the United States entered World War II, we had achieved victory in Europe. We've been in Iraq for over half that period. What reasonable person would say we have reached the halfway point in Iraq?
snip----
Nevertheless, the military occupation of Iraq will not turn Iraq into a democratic nation. Longstanding rivalries will do more to shape that country's future than anything American troops can do. Those forces will not be controlled by American boots on Iraqi ground, no matter how many we put there or how long they remain.
snip----
We feel this course, with its echoes of Vietnam, is unsustainable. It has already added $200 billion to our national debt and costs U.S. taxpayers more than $1 billion per month. It jeopardizes the strategic interests of the United States, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. It alienates allies in the Muslim world and elsewhere, hindering efforts to create a united global front against al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

Unlike World War II, where the enemy surrendered and the troops came home, there is no such prospect in Iraq. We must define an endpoint. We will soon introduce legislation to achieve that goal by bringing the occupation of Iraq to a close. The troops have done their job. It's up to Congress and the president to forge a policy worthy of their sacrifices.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-05-16-oppose_x.htm

Kucinich and Abercrombie Prepare Bill to Bring Troops Home

http://www.kucinich.us/

This is great! Someone is finally starting something!

I love him and his wife, he is THE COOLEST!

that's "very fine, indeed" :bounce:

I first heard him speak at an MLK dinner in Jan. '04.
My reaction was, "Get this guy on a plane to New Hampshire!" He absolutely rocks!

Usa Today!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-05-16-oppose_x.htm

:bounce:

These are the voices that represent American honor and dignity and sanity!!!

for a way to look tougher and win elections.


And Dennis still tells it like it is.

When will the Jr. High School nerd democrats stop trying to be like the cool kids and realize that they ALREADY ARE?

:loveya:

Not time to celebrate yet, but it's the direction we need to go in.

Amen.

:bounce:

Somebody pinch me. I must be dreaming!

All we need is a start, a way to get it out there and hopefully it will gain traction. Thank you Dennis and Neil!

and such welcome news. I am not surprised it is Kucinich but I do not know anything about Abercrombie. I will pay more attention to Abercrombie from now on.

I hope this catches some attention and then some real steam.

:kick:

years ago when he drove a yellow checkered cab. It was his querky habits. Back in the 80's, when we were lucky enough to live on oahu. Home sick.

http://kucinich.us/archive/report/display.php?r=33&d=2005-05-17+15%3A48%3A33

It is time for a new initiative to get out of Iraq. One which does not engage in casting blame, or in fomenting recriminations. One which holds the return home of our troops as being both the logical conclusion of a mission, and the imperative which flows from new information concerning the mission.

It is time to reach out to Republicans and Democrats alike, no matter how they voted on the war, to have Congress legislate a date certain by which all US troops must be withdrawn from Iraq. We can and must create a new way to bring our brave men and women back home.
Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D) of Hawaii and I are drafting legislation to set a time by which the US must be out of Iraq. We are carefully building a new coalition. We are planning on introducing the legislation next week.

We published an op ed piece in USA Today. I spoke of it on the House floor. Time for a new approach and a new beginning to the end of the war against Iraq.

http://kucinich.us/archive/home/display.php?src=k_20050517_hfngbqnl.cuc

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-05-16-oppose_x.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-05-16-our-view_x.htm

My LTE--


The consensus on Iraq happens to be wrong. It is the equivalent of saying that, having invaded and started a fire, we are irresponsible if we refuse to stop pouring gasoline on it. How does hiring one ethnic group, the Kurdish Peshmerga, to destroy the Sunni city of Fallujah forstall civil war? Paying various tribes to commit atrocities against each other escalates civil war. And how did you manage to leave out the most important of all of the groups opposed to US involvement, namely people enraged by losing family members to indiscriminate and collective US punishment?

Representatives Kucinich and Abercrombie gave a sane and realistic response, but even they were not honest enough to name the goal invasion of Iraq for what it was.

•Bush did not invade to get rid of WMD. There were none.

•Bush did not invade to fight Al Qaeda. Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda, and the invasion in fact took resources away from that project. He maintains close personal business relationships with Saudi Arabia, which funded and continues to fund Al Qaeda.

•Bush did not invade to get rid of Saddam. He explicitly stated that the invasion was still on even if Iraq's neighbors succeeded in their plan to convince Saddam and sons to go into exile. And he is maintaining a very cozy relationship with Karimov of Uzbekistan, who is every bit as murderous as Saddam.

•Bush did not invade to bring democracy. He fought having elections for as long as he could, and is now unwilling to abide by the platform of the party with the most votes, which calls for phased US withdrawal.

He invaded Iraq for one and only one reason, to plant a permanent military presence there against the wishes of its population, in order to control the entire region by force. Solving the problem of what to do next in Iraq requires that we be honest enough to name the real goal and then to repudiate it. Reasonable people can disagree about how to leave Iraq and how long it will take, but that must be the goal, as Kucinich and Abercrombie pointed out.