
Dear Daily Kos Community,
I voted for Barack Obama. In fact, I volunteered for his campaign.
But I am not afraid to speak out when the President makes a mistake.
It is wrong to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
[Please stay with me below the jump]
Like my good friend, Afghanistan veteran Rick Reyes, says, "There is no military solution in Afghanistan."
When we escalate an indefinite occupation of Afghanistan... when we send unmanned bombers into nuclear-armed Pakistan... when we construct cement fortresses in Iraq... we only engender hatred, create new enemies, and propel a dangerous narrative that we are at war with the entire Muslim world.
We are better than that.
As a community leader, a student of the Vietnam War moratoriums, I know that all the military might in the world cannot crush the desire for people to control their own destiny. Military attacks may kill terrorists, but they do not end terrorism.
That's why I co-authored a resolution that put the California Democratic Party on record calling for an end to the US occupation and air war in Afghanistan.
In Congress, I would vote to end the war funding and, instead, combat the real enemy in Afghanistan:
Poverty.
According to the charity Oxfam, unemployment in Afghanistan hovers at 40%. Some 250,000 Afghans are refugees in their own country, another 3-milllion are exiled in Pakistan and Iran. Inside landlocked Afghanistan, hunger and disease threaten to ravage the country.
What should we do?
I would vote to partner with indigenous non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) to put people to work growing alternative crops: apples and apricots

And in Washington, I would introduce legislation to require the President to annually seek congressional approval for war.
Congress has the power to stop this escalation.
But we need courageous leadership in the House to exercise that power.
That's why I am running for Congress - to represent you and the will of the people - the majority of whom oppose this escalation.
Please consider contributing to my exciting grassroots campaign by clicking here. Together, we can successfully challenge my opponent who voted to spend another 100-billion dollars to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
We know there is a better way.
Your friend,
Marcy Winograd

I'm Marcy Winograd and I'm challenging Blue Dog corporate Democrat Jane Harman in the June 8, 2010 Democratic Party primary. In 2006, when I jumped into the race just three months before the primary, I mobilized almost 38% of the vote.
To donate to my progressive challenge, visit Winograd4Congress.com.