It's time to set a deadline to bring our troops home. Enough is enough. No more politics, posturing and procrastination. It's time to consider saving lives, not saving face.
John Kerry established www.setadeadline.com and is encouraging you to become a citizen sponsor of his legislation calling on Congress to set a date to transfer full security responsibility to the Iraqis.
On February 7, Senator Kerry delivered a powerful speech, denouncing the inaction, leaps of logic and rhetoric that have infected the debate on Iraq.
UPDATE: Video of Senator Kerry's speech.
Highlights:
Saluting the efforts of Vets:
Right now, all over the Hill here in Washington, there are veterans of the Iraq war who are going around and talking to Congressmen and Senators and the public, advocating that this mission in Iraq ought to change, that we ought to begin a process of terminating our involvement there. They have a very different view of their own service than that which is expressed by some on the other side of the aisle. The fact is, there is a growing sentiment among many of those being asked to do this very difficult job that the missions they are being sent on don't, in fact, always make sense.
Punching holes in McCain's logic:
I remember--and I know the Senator from Arizona remembers--what it is like to be a troop in a war. I remember being on a river in Vietnam when the Secretary of Defense was flying over us on one of his visits to take a look at what was going on. Every single one of us said to each other: Boy, wouldn't it be great if he came down here and talked to us and found out what we really think is going on. We would have loved the policy to change. The fact is that more and more of the veterans I have talked to who are returning from Iraq and some, regrettably, as Senator Dodd and I noticed a few days ago, whom we met over there who have not returned alive, are against what is happening and believe there is a better way to manage this war.
Challenging other members of Congress:
If lives are lost subsequent to our unwillingness to stand up and vote, do we bear any responsibility for the loss of those lives? Do you go home and say to yourself at night, to your wife or your children: Do you know I did everything possible to try to stop what is happening? When you make the next phone call to a mother or father or wife in your State and express your sorrow for their loss in the next days ahead, will you also be able to say, with a clear conscience, that you did your best to try to prevent that loss, to set this war on its proper course? I don't think so.
Quashing the phony argument against withdrawal:
It is unacceptable that any young American ought to be giving their life or going through the sacrifice for Iraqi politicians who refuse to compromise, for a legislature that refuses to even meet. Less than 50 percent of them can be convened, a Parliament that doesn't meet, that is the democracy we are supposedly fighting for--Shia and Sunni politicians who are jockeying amongst each other, creating their own militias, each of them playing for a future with a U.S. security blanket lying over it, preventing the full explosion of the kind of sectarian violence that would flow, if all were left to their own devices. That is the one thing our presence is doing. There is a stopgap. It does prevent absolute chaos, but it is creating a slow, cancerous, insidious kind of chaos that is building on itself.
Calling for a diplomacy:
If we don't get serious about that diplomacy, if we don't have a summit that some of us have been calling for for 3 years, and that is ultimately the only way to resolve these differences, then our soldiers are being sacrificed and being asked to sacrifice each day without a reasonable policy that is guiding this war.
Rebutting spin:
We are being accused of sending bad messages. If you raise the stakes like that but create a mission and actually can't necessarily achieve it, you are preordaining the potential of even worse consequences because you will make the negotiation even harder. You will make it harder for the surrounding countries to say: This is sensible, we ought to get involved now. And you will make it harder for the people there to make the compromises necessary because they know that down the road is this confrontation with reality with an administration that has already said: We don't have a plan beyond this.
What a predicament. That just defies common sense. So we have made matters worse. We will raise the stakes, but we don't have a way to deal with it. A wing and a prayer. This is a ``Hail Mary'' pass by this administration, with no guarantee. I think our troops deserve some guarantees of an outcome.
The day after his speech, Senator Kerry joined three of his colleagues and a group of Vets at a press conference to convey some strong messages to the Republicans in Congress, described in this diary by Beachmom:
Senate Republicans: You are either with the troops or with the President
by beachmom [Subscribe]
Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 10:34:29 AM PST
Whoa -- hot off the presses, this is just fantastic. A gaggle of senators -- Reed, Kerry, Whitehouse, and Murray -- were accompanied by two members of the fabulous organization votevets.org -- Jon Stolz and Andrew Horne. This is what "Fighting Dems" mean, and this is exactly the kind of muscled message we should be putting out there to smackdown the absolutely pathetic Republicans who are too wimpy to even debate a lousy non-binding resolution.
link
Video: VoteVets Ad - Stop Escalation
It's time to bring the troops home!
Action For Setting a Deadline
February 8th, 2007
As you know I’m not leading a campaign for the presidency in 2008. Instead I have chosen to campaign to end the war in Iraq and protect America.
Yesterday I stood up with a remarkable group of Iraq war veterans who are speaking out because they believe the best way to support the troops is to change a course that squanders their lives. When brave patriots suffer and die because of the incompetence of mere politicians, the only patriotic choice is to demand change.
These veterans offered a profile in courage.
The Senate this week provided a profile in politics – Republicans blocking even a vote up or down, one way or another on a bi-partisan resolution opposing the Bush escalation.
This has to end.
Republicans refuse even to go on record over the Bush escalation. That’s why we need to escalate the pressure for a policy change.
That’s why I am introducing legislation that will set a firm deadline for the redeployment of most American troops from Iraq.
If you agree it is time to set a deadline, come to SetADeadline.com and become a citizen co-sponsor of the legislation.
In addition to setting a deadline, my legislation includes many of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group and will:
* launch a major diplomatic initiative, the only hope for a resolution in Iraq
* enforce a series of benchmarks to hold Iraqis accountable for meeting key political objectives
* change the American military mission to training Iraqi security forces and counter-terrorism operations
* maintain an over the horizon presence to protect American regional interests.
Learn more about the legislation at http://www.setadeadline.com
Now that a new Democratic Congressional majority has convened in the U.S. Capitol, a deadline must be set. The President must respect the real needs of our troops and the will of the American people.
Step by step, we will ensure that he does.
Visit the www.setadeadline.com, and become a co-sponsor:
- What do you think is the most effective means for the Democratic Congress to end American military involvement in Iraq? <rank in priority 1 to 3>
Please rank in priority.
Set a deadline that forces President Bush to end the war
Deny Iraq war funding requests by President Bush
Prevent further escalation of U.S. troop numbers in Iraq
Be Heard!