Senator Sherrod Brown asks on the emergency war supplemental:
What kind of "emergency" is that? The Pentagon can live with a little more delay, while we get answers to some urgent questions.
Among his questions:
How is approving a 5% increase in the Pentagon's budget an emergency when extending the qualification period for Emergency Federal Extended UI Benefits is not?
What is the real timetable for military withdrawal?
How do you defend more military spending as the best use of public resources, at a time when states and local governments are looking at mass layoffs?
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=472&letter_id=5426829941
On 60 Minutes, in March of 2009, Obama said, "There’s got to be an exit strategy. There’s got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift."
When will the last soldier come home?
"It’s not only important to know when the first soldier is to be redeployed or brought home, it’s important to know when the last soldier is as well." McGovern and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree outlined the case for an exit strategy and a vote against the supplemental as well as the political significance of this moment. Last year, McGovern’s exit strategy amendment garnered 138 votes, including 131 Democrats--the majority of the Democratic Caucus. "My hope is that we’ll get a good vote on the vote to strike the military aid," said McGovern. "And we are hoping to get a good vote on the exit strategy and that will be a signal to the White House to rethink it’s policy."
http://www.thenation.com/...
Corruption in Afghanistan
Corruption in Karzai's government rampant and we are paying "bribes" locally just to get supplies through, with money going to the Taliban.
We are currently paying 9.2 billion dollars within just one year to train the Afghans.
Karzai complains that contracts were being awarded to private security firms, which he said undermined efforts to build a strong national army and police force.
The Pentagon complains they do not have enough trainers, even though our soldiers are being sent to train the Afghans, along with the private contractors who have been awarded contracts at a cost of 9.2 billion. Just think about spending 9.2 billion and complaining of not having enough trainers?
We have 500 AlQuaidi SOB'S left in Afghanistan, But we have 100,000 American troops, 107,000 private contractors, 100,000 support troops in the area, along with the troops of our allies.
What are we doing there for 9 years now? What have we accomplished? Who are we fighting?
Even though the majority of Americans now oppose the war, Congress seems to be behind the curve. It is important if we want to rebuild our country, get our economy going, and stop borrowing 43 cents of every dollar that we spend, that we must end this war now.
While we must make every effort possible today to get more anti-war votes, we have to build a stronger movement if we are really serious about ending this war!
http://www.commondreams.org/...
We need to stand behind every member of Congress working hard, standing up to end these wars. Tonight's vote is supposed to be a stand alone vote on the war funding and if it is, that will tell us who our anti-war champions are.