President Bush's plan to send 21,500 additional US troops to Iraq was met with fierce opposition Wednesday as Democratic lawmakers introduced competing proposals aimed at reversing the president's plan to escalate the war.
California Congresswomen Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, and Maxine Waters drafted legislation calling for US soldiers to begin withdrawing from the region within four to six months. Woolsey and Lee are co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Waters is chair of the Out-of-Iraq Caucus. They announced details of the legislation at a news conference Wednesday.
"This legislation does what the administration has refused to do - namely, recognize the situation on the ground for what it is, an occupation and a civil war," said Congresswoman Lee. "The president insists on appealing to patriotic sentiments and fear with talk about victory and defeat in Iraq, but the truth is that you cannot win an occupation, any more than the US can win an Iraqi civil war. The longer we stay there, the worse it gets."
Woolsey, Waters and Lee's legislation goes far beyond the flurry of other bills that have been discussed among Democrats in the House and Senate over the past two weeks.
· Prohibits any permanent US military bases in Iraq
· Accelerates funding for military/contractor training of Iraqi forces
· Authorizes a wide array of non-military US bilateral and multilateral assistance for reconstruction and reconciliation in Iraq
· Prohibits US access to Iraqi oil production prior to the Iraqi government establishing clear rules for foreign ownership and participation
· Guarantees health care for US veterans of military operations in Iraq and other conflicts
· Creates a bipartisan joint committee to investigate the process by which the US was led into war under false pretenses and make recommendations on how such a situation can be prevented in the future.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011807A.shtml
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Excerpt:
""This legislation does what the administration has refused to do - namely, recognize the situation on the ground for what it is, an occupation and a civil war," said Congresswoman Lee. "The president insists on appealing to patriotic sentiments and fear with talk about victory and defeat in Iraq, but the truth is that you cannot win an occupation, any more than the US can win an Iraqi civil war. The longer we stay there, the worse it gets."
Yes Civil wars can go on for a long time and longer when you have people involved who should not be. Or we can look at this country's own revolutionary war where England pulled out,saying enough is enough and it was not seen as a horrible defeat, not making England more vunerable to other country's as the Gerbil thinks we will be if we pull out.
We are just prolonging the inevitable.
Not sure if everyone has seen these videos of the US military in Iraq or not, but they are pretty amazing: Hopefully our 'surge' will not include too many of these types...
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2006/12/winning-hearts-and-minds-part-three.html
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