89 House Members Tell Bush: No More Money for Occupation (88 dems and guess who!)

The Nation ^

[mnehring]

The occupation in Iraq will begin to end on the day that Democrats -- and responsible Republicans -- in Congress decide to stop meeting the demands of the Bush-Cheney administration for more money to fund their imperial endeavor along with the massive war-profiteering by administration-linked firms such as Halliburton and Blackwater.

This is a simple reality. But it remains one that most members of Congress, including many Democrats who should know better, fail to recognize.

The essential document in the current Iraq debate is a letter of commitment, now endorsed by 89 members of the House, that says the signers "will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during FY08 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq before the end of President Bush's term in office."

In an important new letter to President Bush, the 89 representatives -- 88 Democrats and Texas Republican Ron Paul -- say, "More than 3,800 of our brave soldiers have died in Iraq. More than 28,000 have been seriously wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or injured in the hostilities and more than 4 million have been displaced from their homes. Furthermore, this conflict has degenerated into a sectarian civil war and U.S. taxpayers have paid more than $500 billion, despite assurances that you and your key advisors gave our nation at the time you ordered the invasion in March, 2003 that this military intervention would cost far less and be paid from Iraqi oil revenues.

"We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on Americans currently and for generations to come."

At a time when the president is requesting an additional $50 billion to maintain his escalation of U.S. military operations in Iraq through next April, on top of the $145 billion he requested to continue military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during the 2008 fiscal year, the letter says what all of Congress should be saying: No.

What is now the most important anti-war initiative in the Congress began in July when the following House members signed on: Rep. Lynn Woolsey ☼ (CA); Rep. Barbara Lee ☼ (CA); Rep. Maxine Waters ☼ (CA); Rep. Ellen Tauscher (CA); Rep. Rush Holt ☼ (NJ); Rep. Maurice Hinchey ☼ (NY); Rep. Diane Watson ☼ (CA); Rep. Ed Pastor (AZ); Rep. Barney Frank ☼ (MA); Rep. Danny Davis ☼ (IL); Rep. John Conyers ☼ (MI); Rep. John Hall ☼ (NY); Rep. Bob Filner (CA); Rep. Nydia Velazquez ☼ (NY); Rep. Bobby Rush ☼ (IL); Rep. Charles Rangel ☼ (NY); Rep. Ed Towns (NY); Rep. Paul Hodes ☼ (NH); Rep. William Lacy Clay ☼ (MO); Rep. Earl Blumenauer ☼ (OR); Rep. Albert Wynn ☼ (MD); Rep. Bill Delahunt (MA); Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC); Rep. G. K. Butterfield (NC); Rep. Hilda Solis ☼ (CA); Rep. Carolyn Maloney ☼ (NY); Rep. Jerrold Nadler ☼ (NY); Rep. Michael Honda (CA); Rep. Steve Cohen (TN); Rep. Phil Hare (IL); Rep. Grace Flores Napolitano (CA); Rep. Alcee Hastings ☼ (FL); Rep. James McGovern ☼ (MA); Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL); Rep. Julia Carson ☼ (IN); Rep. Linda Sanchez ☼ (CA); Rep. Raul Grijalva ☼ (AZ); Rep. John Olver ☼ (MA); Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX); Rep. Jim McDermott (WA); Rep. Ed Markey (MA); Rep. Chaka Fattah ☼ (PA); Rep. Frank Pallone ☼ Jr. (NJ); Rep. Rubin Hinojosa (TX); Rep. Pete Stark (CA); Rep. Bobby Scott (VA); Rep. Jim Moran (VA); Rep. Betty McCollum ☼ (MN); Rep. Jim Oberstar (MN); Rep. Diana DeGette ☼ (CO); Rep. Stephen Lynch ☼ (MA); Rep. Artur Davis ☼ (AL); Rep. Hank Johnson (GA); Rep. Donald Payne ☼ (NJ); Rep. Emanuel Cleaver ☼ (MO); Rep. John Lewis ☼ (GA); Rep. Yvette Clarke ☼ (NY); Rep. Neil Abercrombie ☼ (HI); Rep. Gwen Moore (WI); Rep. Keith Ellison ☼ (MN); Rep. Tammy Baldwin ☼ (WI); Rep. Donna Christensen (USVI); Rep. David Scott ☼ (GA); Rep. Luis Gutierrez ☼ (IL); Lois Capps (CA); Steve Rothman (NJ); Elijah Cummings (MD); and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).

Since Congress returned from its summer break, the following members have joined this burgeoning effort to end the occupation: Rep. Chris Murphy (CT); Rep. Jesse Jackson ☼ Jr. (IL); Rep. Corrine Brown ☼ (FL); Rep. Bennie Thompson ☼ (MS); Rep. Mel Watt (NC); Rep. Gregory Meeks ☼ (NY); Rep. David Loebsack ☼ (IA); Rep. Anthony Weiner ☼ (NY); Rep. Dennis Kucinich ☼ (OH); Rep. Peter DeFazio ☼ (OR); Rep. Sam Farr ☼ (CA); Rep. Henry Waxman ☼ (D-CA); Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA); Rep. John Tierney ☼ (D-CA); Rep. Lloyd Doggett ☼ (D-TX); Rep. Anna Eshoo ☼ (D-CA); Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones ☼ (D-OH); Rep. Richard Neal ☼ (D-MA); and Rep. Louise Slaughter ☼ (D-NY).

Unfortunately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and other key Democratic leaders have so far refused to commit to the only meaningful challenge to the Bush administration's war-without-end demands.

What Pelosi, who admitted over the weekend that the Congress has not done enough to challenge the administration's Iraq policies, needs to understand is that the time has come to stop the senseless killing and maiming of young Americans in a distant civil war. The time has come to end what is by any honest measure a colonial occupation and to allow Iraqis to decide their own destiny. The time has come to restore a measure of balance and decency to American foreign policy.

Perhaps most importantly, the time has come to ask whether those who fail to recognize the necessity of standing up to this administration -- unequivocally, consistently and without political calculation -- understand that their duty is to serve their constituents, their country and its Constitution -- as opposed to the mad whims of George Bush and Dick Cheney.

[Abathar]

She must have signed it while sitting here in Indy, she will be out for at least another 2 weeks.

[shield]

bfl

[mnehring]

Tell me ONE thing about Dr. Paul that isn’t “Conservative”!

Defunding our troops in the middle of a war.
Voting against securing our borders.
Voting against making it a crime to harm a fetus.
Voting against making it a crime to take a child across State lines for an abortion.
Funding the TransTexas/NAU Highway.
Spending government money on restoring an old theater.
Funding a child tracking database.
Voting against giving Ronald Reagan the medal of freedom because it is 'unconstitutional' but at the same time, voting for similar honors for baseball players and radio DJs in his district.
Want me to keep going? I can do this all day. Mr. Moderate Libertarian sure ain't the second coming of Madison or Reagan, that's for sure.... Votes speak louder than rhetoric.

Ron Paul's Voting Record (ya, ya, I know, there is an excuse for all of these, state's rights are more important than stopping abortion and fixing the border, Ronnie is making a statement, or everyone else was voting against it and he was just playing the game, yadda, yadda, yadda)

Here are some more ‘Conservative(sic)’ votes by Paul:

Voted NO on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes.

Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research.

Voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion.

Voted YES on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons.

Voted NO on more prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime.

Voted NO on military border patrols to battle drugs & terrorism.

Voted NO on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror.

Voted NO on allowing vouchers in DC schools.

Voted NO on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy.

Voted NO on implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy.

Voted YES on barring website promoting Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.

Voted NO on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects.

Voted NO on reforming the UN by restricting US funding.

Voted NO on requiring lobbyist disclosure of bundled donations.

Voted NO on prohibiting lawsuits about obesity against food providers.

Voted NO on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers

Voted NO on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse.

Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.

Voted NO on emergency $78B for war in Iraq & Afghanistan.

Voted NO on $266 billion Defense Appropriations bill.

Voted YES on more immigrant visas for skilled workers.

Voted YES on providing $70 million for Section 8 Housing vouchers.

Voted NO on promoting work and marriage among TANF recipients.

Voted NO on treating religious organizations equally for tax breaks.

Let's also not forget Paul's Pork Projects (that he voted for before he voted against when he calls them unconstitutional but he is just playing the game when he submits them because everyone else does it.. yadda yadda yadda..)

[mnehring]

SandRat
Have you seen this.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912113/posts?page=44#44

[mnehring]

Sorry, copied the wrong link..
This:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=26046

[mnehring]

For your collection:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=25788

[SJackson]

I can understand speaking to Arab groups. I like the other one better.

FreeRepublic.com now threatening to kill Dr. Paul

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-...sts?page=44#44

------------------

Talk about "fringe", those people are nuts. I think they're just kids who, when not wrecking havoc on the internet, go outdoors and torture insects and small animals for fun.

Whatever that post said, it was pulled so quickly, there were no responses to it.

But a lurker from Ron Paul forums saw it, and started a thread.

Interesting.

[mbennett203]

"Ten years ago, most conservatives were on Ron Paul’s side in opposing Clinton/Neo-con wars in Kosovo and Bosnia and supporting a more “humble” foreign policy and an end to nation building"

It's pretty difficult to stay out of other countries when people in them send their brainwashed followers into our nation to mass murder us.

[svcw]

First, the issues are not even similar.
Second, we are still there.
Third, Captain Kirk kicked butt and took names later unlike the guy you support.

[svcw]

Bovine crapola.

[vaudine]

Do I get a prize for guessing it was R. Paul?

vaudine

[bill1952]

Ah....................to be fair, Lincoln had nothing to do with that, and he was faced with a huge problem when old Burnside arrested him.

After Fredricksburg, Burnside had been sent to an area where it was believed that he could cause no more grief for the Union, his area having very few soldiers, no warfare, and little in the way of duties.

It was Burnside himself, not Lincoln, who issued the proclamation that “no treasonous utterance” shall be made in his area of military control, and his own decision to have the copperhead arrested - and the local rag shut down as well.

All of that was dumped in Lincoln’s lap while he was still digesting the butcher’s bill for the crater fiasco at Petersburg, and Lincoln fished around for a way out that would not make this trash a martyr with a guaranteed seat in Congress.

He found it in Burnside’s own “General Proclamation” that such fellows shall be imprisoned or sent across the lines to the Confederacy.

Lincoln struck out the prison sentence, released the traitor - who was running for office - sent him to Richmond, and ordered Burnside to shut up and do nothing further again.

Interestingly, the SCOTUS found that writs of Habeas Corpus didn't mean squat during war time.
He also ordered the news rag re opened.

I use these historical events to illustrate the fact that the Democrat party has NEVER been a party that was for America!

During the Civil War, a plank that their campaign was built upon was that “the war must immediately halt, and the Government must accept “foreign mediation” to settle the Civil War.

That was meant to split America in two and that is the campaign that they rode upon during the election.

[Grampa Dave]

“Guess who” is the poster boy king of the Rinos!

[weegee]

89 Representatives is not a majority. This goes nowhere.

[ctdonath2]

[Yawn] Yet another meaningless gesture.

Anyone there can, with a bit of gumption and support, get any bill they want on the floor with a clean straight up-or-down vote. For all the blather and rhetoric, none have done so. To the contrary, supporters HAVE brought such a vote up more than once, and when actually called on it the alleged opponents have voted in support.

They don’t want it to end.
They like having a hobgoblin to rally against.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

So the Dems want Jordan, Syria and Lebanon to give back the territory that the UN set aside for a Palestinian state?

[SoldierDad]

No surprise here. R u n Paul doesn’t believe there are any enemies of the United States of American.

[elizabetty]

Where is it in the Constitution that you should attempt to scuttle the US Military in the middle of an armed engagement?

Ron Paul has a date with a Marine in a dark alley in his future.

[RDTF]

unbelievable that he was able to convince Texans, of all people, that he was a Republican!

[mowowie]

Ogonowski did well considering...