"No Permanent Bases" has again passed both houses, this time as part of the military there-goes-all-our-money bill. If a conference committee strips it out again, this will - again - be in
violation of the rules of Congress, not to mention the quaint notion of democracy.
We need to keep our eyes open for the announcement from both houses of who the conferees are that will meet as a committee to undo what both houses of Congress have done.
We need to target them with phone calls, Emails, faxes, and protests. There are Republicans now making speeches against permanent bases as a result of our pressure.
Rep. Bill Young (R., Fla.) said on the floor Tuesday about permanent bases:
"It sends the wrong message. Not only to the people of Iraq, not only to the people of America, but to the people of other Muslim nations who might say, hey, are we next? Are we going to be occupied? Are we going to have American troops in our streets?"
By the way, here are the 50 Congress Members who voted in favor of permanent bases in Iraq:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/...
Here is Senator Biden's press release re passage in the Senate:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/...
NB: If we pressure the conference committee into obeying the rules, and the language becomes law, and the bases (of course) continue to be built, then we will really raise hell - and it will need to include impeachment. But there may be other legal angles as well.