Five years ago today, America launched the war on terror by attacking al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan.
At the time, President Bush pledged that the conflict would overthrow tyrants and bring “peace and freedom” to the inhabitants of that country.
Today, peace and freedom remain elusive in Afghanistan, and the Taliban is making a strong comeback.
As our editorial argues, America needs to re-engage the challenges of this “other war” on terror by boosting military strength and dramatically increasing international aid.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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56 Comments
If George W. would have waited until a coalition of allies was willing to go with us, all this would have been just a nightmare.
But, no, George had to ride in with all guns blazing and show he is a big tough guy.
lucee,What are you talking about? Our Coalition of the willing consisted of Britain and Spain and…………………(long pause) Samoa……..(another long pause) Did I mention Britain and Spain?
:)
And don’t forget Poland.
In a twist of fate, Afghanistan which was not the real intent of the Administration show of might. Was done well and fairly right, decisive and the plan for the aftermath to help establish a Government there went well.But the problem of course was the administration did not want to be bogged down with Afghanistan when they went after their true target of Iraq. So they allowed other to make the decisions until they were ready to invade Iraq. Then Bush&Co. took over. Pulling out the special forces that were equip and train to find OBL and work with a Arab population. Shifting troops out of Afghanistan to Iraq and changing the focus.
All but leaving the new Government and the real fight against terrorism to fend for itself.Iraq is the frontline on the war on terrorism? Maybe as far as the Bush&Co. are concerned, but the terrorists have other frontlines they are focused on and little if any of the frontlines for the terrorists have caught the Administration’s eye.
Writerdog,
I suppose you simply ignore the thousands of troops we still have in afghanistan, the troops we have in Africa, the troops we have in Asia, and all over the middle east to fight terrorism?
I think those on the whiney left and you seem to be more focused on trying to attack Bush for whatever you can in Iraq instead of looking at all that is currently being done.
Nathan, I’m impressed with what the armed forces are doing with new counter-insurgency tactics.I hope it’s not too late.This whiney lib thinks we need far more troops to carry out the tactics and prevail.
Over the past 6 months allied forces have been making major victories against Taliban forces and continue to do so…
Where is the blog thread on that?
I saw a news item a few days ago with Frist advocating bringing the Taliban into the Afghanistan government. Anyone have any further information on that?
Nathan – I hear DoD reports of all these major victories you refer to, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately I get a feeling of deja vu about all this. Years ago we were told everything was going well and we would be done in “months not years”
I am reminded of Baghdad Bob broadcasting that US troops would never make it to Baghdad.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/15702884.htm
Taliban back, using Iraq-style violenceJIM KRANEAssociated PressKABUL, Afghanistan – A sweating man wanders into a crowd and blows himself up, leaving a dozen bodies lifeless on the street. A few blocks away, a car bomb pulverizes an armored Humvee, killing two U.S. soldiers and 14 civilians. The kind of anonymous insurgent violence that is convulsing Iraq has migrated 1,500 miles east to plague Afghanistan five years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime.
The prospect of a second downward spiral – though so far Afghanistan isn’t nearly as violent as Iraq – has experts worried that Western militaries don’t have an effective strategy for these irregular wars.
“One Iraq is bad enough,” said Bruce Hoffman, a counterinsurgency expert at Georgetown University. “Given that our two main theaters of operations aren’t going well, one has to question how well the U.S. understands counterinsurgency.”
The reborn Taliban acknowledges that it has adopted the suicide bombings, beheadings and remote-controlled bombs of the Iraqi insurgent movement. Nearly 200 civilians have been killed in suicide attacks this year that look all too much like the wave of bombings sweeping Iraq.
“We’re getting stronger in every province and in every district and every village,” said Qari Mohammed Yusuf Ahmadi, who calls himself the Taliban’s spokesman for southern Afghanistan. “We don’t have helicopters and jet fighters. But we’re giving America and its allies a tough time with roadside bombs, suicide attacks and ambushes. Our Muslim brothers in Iraq are using the same tactics.”
Resemblances to Iraq don’t stop there. Taliban public relations teams videotape attacks and post them online, an uncharacteristic venture into modern technology for a Muslim fundamentalist group that once banned cameras and computers.
The West’s military strategy in Afghanistan also resembles that in Iraq.
continues in link …
That’s odd, the speech I heard from Bush was that it was going to be a long, hard battle against the terrorist.
Perhaps there was confusion on the overthrow phase of the battle. The war on terrorism cannot be defined neatly in one calendar package like a conventional war. This is non conventional warfare.
Personally, I don’t like the current situation, but support the troops.
I believe the effort to democratize is doomed to fail simple because democracies and Islam is not a good mix. The only democracy and Islam state that works is Turkey. That’s because they did it themselves over time and not from being invaded.
There is something about invasion and democracy in the same sentence that makes an oxymoron. Maybe it should be called takeover democracy instead.
If they want to win the war against the Islam portion, perhaps they need to hire some former Soviet propaganda experts. Put up details of corruption of key Islamic leaders and how Al Qaida is comprised of non-believers and money grabbing pirates. Then, you might see some turn around.
Win the hearts and minds of the people. Both simple philosophies that seem to have been forgotten.
Meanwhile, over in Iraq:
“Senator Says U.S. Should Rethink Iraq Strategy
By DAVID S. CLOUDPublished: October 6, 2006WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 — The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned Thursday that the situation in Iraq was “drifting sideways” and said that the United States should consider a “change of course” if violence did not diminish soon.
The chairman, Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, expressed particular concern that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had not moved decisively against sectarian militias.
“In two or three months if this thing hasn’t come to fruition and this level of violence is not under control, I think it’s a responsibility of our government to determine: Is there a change of course we should take?” Senator Warner said.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/middleeast/06capital.html?_r=5&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=login
Hey Nathan I’m old enough to remember all the victories in Vietnam and we still lost that war
JM – I agree. I would add that we could support efforts at democratization and reform in the region. Add to that reining in Israeli expansionism in the West Bank and supporting freedom for Palestine and we might actually accomplish something.
We are ‘good buddies’ with non-democratic countries like Saudi Arabia but are enemies to democracies like Lebanon and Palestine. Condi Rice refused to even meet with the elected Prime Minister in Palestine. We don’t have to like him but he WAS elected.
Then we need to get serious about nation-building in Afghanistan. We took it over, it is our responsibility to deal with. And Iraq …
“Win the hearts and minds of the people. Both simple philosophies that seem to have been forgotten.”
So true. We lost sight of that maxim in VietNam as well. As Ronnie points out.
Ben, that’s what the new counter-insurgency handbook is all about.Meeting the needs of the population, rather than trying to win through classic military strategy and doctrine.Problem is, we don’t have enough troops to make this happen.At the present troop level, all we’re doing is hunkering down, with daily forays out to be human targets.
Absolutely TRACY. Too bad RumNamara never read it.
Afghanistan; the forgotten war. All else fails just say ” Clinton didn’t leave us a detailed plan for Afghanistan”
A large part of the problem with Vietnam as well as the war in Iraq is, we don’t know who the enemy is. They disguise themselves as civilians. They take up hostile in churches, villages, homes/caves/huts, leaving behind breadbaskets and boxes to be blown up in the faces of our soldiers.What the heck is our Congress and media worried about? Geneva convention.That’s why Vietnam was lost and why if we stay on the road we are on we could end up the same in the middle east.
Terrorism does not exist. It is a made-up definition by the Israelis who tagged it on the Palestinian resistance to garner sympathy and mostly money from the United States.
The term “angry men” better suits the situation the Palestinians find themselves in, due to the brutality from Israel.
Every square inch of so-called Israel belonged to the Palestinians who were murdered or driven off their land by the Jews.
418 Palestinian villages were bulldozed along with 17,000 Palestinians homes.
The Palestinians were then driven into refugee camps where they are now being brutalized daily.
You can believe whatever you like, but that is actually what happened.
It’s pretty simple if you think about Ed.You help a population and you’ll have their support.You hurt a population, they’ll do their best to hurt you back.Simple. Effective. Reality.
Nathan I am ignoring nothing, but the course is in Iraq not on terrorism. Peacekeepers, you are talking about nothing more then what amount to a Peacekeeping force, like uniform security guards at the bank. The fact is that there is only one thing that stops the allied forces of the insurgency, Al-Qaeda, Shiites from surrounding countries, all together outnumber our troops in Iraq, that oppose you in Iraq is air power. We have it and they do not, if you care to read the “The secret history of the Iraq war” you would see that there were a number of times. Far too many times the only thing that kept our forces from being overran and trapped in a fatal end was Close air support. When there was a sand storm, the Iraqis would come close to not only force the U.S. Forces to retreat but would damn near over run them!
Sorry but the commitment of this Administration is not to fighting the terrorists threat worldwide, but in Iraq and they are doing a piss-poor job of doing that! In case you have not heard, the Taliban forces are less then one hundred mile from Kabul in Afghanistan and moving closer. Once again it is only air support that slows them down. In both Iraq and Afghanistan it is the thin thread that keeps them from simple over powering our troops. Until then it is just a matter of a slow bleeding death for the United States.No I do not wish it to happen and I hope that we will finally act as if we are at war instead of just trying to play bank guard. Our enemies are not playing, they are at war. Tracy is right in believing the change in tactics is a move to winning in Iraq. As long as we are perceived as invaders and not help, the enemy has an upper hand.
“They disguise themselves as civilians.” In large part that is because they ARE civilians. We are up against the general population. Our own polling in Iraq shows that a majority want us out and support attackes upon their occupiers.
To blame Israel and the United States or UN and the end of WWII and the creation of Israel for the current conflict is painting with a pretty broad stroke. This is a region with a rich history of conflict.The if we take our ball and go home mentality or let’s just shut down Israel and move all the Jews to Florida (I’m joking but you get the idea) mentality isn’t going to work. Take a look at the wars that have been fought in the area over history.
Wars and Battles of the Middle EastEgyptian Invasion of Asia 1479 bcPersia Empire Wars 546 – 539 bcPersian-Greek Wars 499 – 401 bcAlexander & Macedonian Conquests 338 – 322 bcHellenistic Monarchies, Wars of the 318 – 170 bcThird Macedonian War 168 bcFirst Triumvirate, Wars of the 53 – 45 bcSecond Triumvirate, Wars of the 43 – 31 bcByzantine Empire Wars 395 – 1453Muslim Conquests 624 – 982Crusades 1096 – 1254Arab-Israeli War 1948 – 1949Suez War 1956Wars in Lebanon 1958 – 1983Six-Day War 1967October War 1973Iran-Iraq War 1980 – 1988Persian Gulf War 1991Terrorism, War on 2001—–
You left out the Stern Gang reign of terror culminating in the terror-bombing of the King David hotel in 1946. This terrorist attack led to the withdrawal of British peace-keepers from the region.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing
The King David Hotel bombing (July 22, 1946) was a bombing attack against the British government of Palestine by members of Irgun — a militant Zionist organization, classified as a terrorist organization both by the British authorities and several Jewish organizations, such as the Jewish Agency, Haganah and Histadrut.
The Irgun, dressed as Arabs, exploded a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which had been the base for the British Secretariat, the military command and a branch of the Criminal Investigation Division (police). 91 people were killed, most of them staff of the secretariat and the hotel[1]: 28 British, 41 Arab, 17 Jewish, and 5 other. Around 45 people were injured.
The attack was initially ordered by Menachem Begin, the head of the Irgun, who would later become Israeli Prime Minister. The attack was commanded by Yosef Avni and Yisrael Levi.
The attack on the hotel was the deadliest attack against the British in the history of the Mandate. Some claim this act should be considered in light of the escalating violence in the region and the conflict between the three main forces in the region: British, Jewish and Arab. In particular, the attack was made in retaliation for the British mass arrests (Operation Agatha) of June 29 1946, when British troops raided the Jewish Agency and confiscated large quantities of documents, such as information about Jewish Agency operations, including intelligence activities in Arab countries. At about the same time, more than 2,500 Jews from all over Palestine were placed under arrest. A large number of seized documents were taken to the hotel. However, the bomb attack had already been planned.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And we claim that we don’t seal with terrorists!
Aren’t we moving sideways here by straying into the Israeli conflicts?
Absolutely TRACY. Instead of working to SOLVE conflicts we fan the flames. In doing so we undermine the moderate forces we should be encouraging.
In almost six long years, Bush hasn’t done ONE THING RIGHT.
He didn’t stop 9-11. He didn’t bring “democracy” to Iraq. He didn’t stop the Taliban in Afghanistan. The economy still isn’t as good as it was under Clinton. The national debt both in nominal dollars and in real terms (as percent of GDP) is exploding.
The War on Terror must be going well because I feel safer now since we are once again allowed to take small bottles of liquids onto planes – don’t you?
I wonder where Osama bin Forgotten is these days?
Two teenage boys were riding their bicycles in Gaza when an Israeli Helicopter fired a missile between them, killing both.
The reason the Israelis gave was that those two teenagers were “suspected terrorists.”
Fuck Israel.
And Bush endorses such killings just because “all Arabs look alike”
Hey Ben…
Osama bin Forgotten is probally hanging out in his Condo in Kabal…
Or maybe at his sea side resort in Saudi Arabia…
More likely the latter with his friends in the House of Saud.
Wow writerdog…
With the bleak picture you portray you might thing the casualty numbers would be a bit more than they are.
I am not sure where you are getting your information on the terrorists over running us.
I know there have been a few battles here and there where it was pretty hectic, but it is hardly the standard.
Do you have some specific numbers and examples or do you like dealing in generalities when trying to make things seem worse than they really are?
For all of you vietnam war revisionists…
When we left Vietnam we had forced the North into a peace treaty.
It was only after the democrats neutered Nixon’s ability to enforce any of the threats he had in place and the soviets resupply of the North with armor and weaponry did the North invade and take over the South.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/middleeast/06capital.html
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 — The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned Thursday that the situation in Iraq was “drifting sideways” and said that the United States should consider a “change of course” if violence did not diminish soon.
The chairman, Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, expressed particular concern that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had not moved decisively against sectarian militias.
“In two or three months if this thing hasn’t come to fruition and this level of violence is not under control, I think it’s a responsibility of our government to determine: Is there a change of course we should take?” Senator Warner said
Colin Powell has made similar statements this past week.
I hate to shed some truth on the doomsday party you liberals are throwing, but American forces around here are in no threat of being run over or destroyed.
The only thing the enemy can do is try to blow us up here and there and most of the time they can’t even do a very good job of that.
Of course things are not perfect here, but my goodness, there are many good things that take place every day right along with the bad, but when all you want to do is focus on the bad that is all you see.
What change of course?
I keep hearing it said, but what does it mean?
Do you know who the enemy is, Nathan?
Rage,
Why yes I do.
I heard about this the other day. I can’t post links so I was waiting for someone else to bring it up. I guess everybody missed it. The media made little mention of it what with the Republicans conspiring to keep a pedophile in Congress and all.
QALAT, Afghanistan U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan guerrilla war can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Taliban and their supporters into the Afghan government.The Tennessee Republican said he had learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated by military means.”You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government,” Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. “And if that’s accomplished we’ll be successful.”
So …….
We didn’t get bin Laden.
We didn’t remove the Taliban from power.
Almost EVERYONE was in favor of going into Afghanistan for those reasons.
But bush and Rusfeld in their handling of Afghanistan accomplished…..what?
Nathan knows who the enemy is, it’s the ones blowing up Americans. But if you don’t catch them in the act, the enemy is anyone and everyone.
Nathan writes–
“It was only after the democrats neutered Nixon’s ability to enforce any of the threats he had in place and the soviets resupply of the North with armor and weaponry did the North invade and take over the South.”
You are so ignorant of basic history that there’s no place to even start. But let’s see, you also belive that the universe is only 10,000 years old when in actuality the universe is about 14 BILLION years old.
If you want to get the real facts, read a journalist who was there from the beginning–Stanley Karnow’s “Vietnam” is considered the definitive history. Get it, read it, and stop being stupid.
I never saw the NVA, but did see skirmishes with VC. Only tanks I ever saw were ones that the VC had blown up.The NVA may have had some engagements by the DMZ, but I don’t think they really came South until we started standing down, and the RVN retreated in their advance.
Perhaps Nathan read that other definitive book on Vietnam: “My war time experiences in Vietnam and how they have shape my modern war time thoughts. By G.W. Bush”It was ghost written by Dick Cheney
I notice the only thing any of you seemed to be able to do was attack me personally instead of actually discussing what I said.
Thanks for the answer, Nathan. I guess a better question is: Do you have any specific knowledge about who are setting off the IEDs; their motivations, organization, etc.? There have been plenty of reports from the area, but I want to know what YOU’VE heard.
You needn’t divulge any sensitive information (like you would!), but something more than a yes/no answer would be nice.
Rage,
The enemy is comprised of a mixture of sunni/shi’ite extremeists bent on causing a civil war and driving the two sides apart, Iranian/other foriegn national operatives bent on causing as much damage and incite as much violence as they can to stop American forces here, terrorists who just want to kill Americans, and your run of the mill insurgent types.
You can usually tell who it is by who they target and the sophistication of their methods.
Nathan,
Do you have any sense of the proportions of each of the groups you describe? That has been a subject of debate in the news media at times over the last few years. There may be no way to know, but I was curious if you had a sense of that.
Sounds like you’ve pretty well narrowed it down Nathan, the enemy is the people trying to kill/drive us out, discernible by? If the military has to rely on informers, then the military will be aiding is settling old tribal feuds, and still not accomplishing what they want.It’s starting to look like the Sunniis and shiites are planning for the day we withdraw and each is trying to better their position by eliminating the other beforehand.
“With the bleak picture you portray you might thing the casualty numbers would be a bit more than they are.”
It has already been said that, indeed, the casualty numbers are lower, compared to Vietnam. However, the number of injuries is skyrocketing. Many of those injured in Vietnam died of their injuries. Not the case in Iraq.
And if anybody thinks that 2700 casualty number is even close to correct, keep in mind that those who die OFF Iraq soil are not counted in that number.
We’ve lost far more men and women than is being officially reported.
Meanwhile back in the other member of the AXIS of Evil, they are perfecting their nuclear arms. But we are too tied down in Iraq to do much more than give them lip service. I’m sure bush will have more empty threats. or alternatively start another wot front, like he did after Afghanistan. Then we’ll all be talking about the forgotten war in Iraq.
Soldiers question when Iraqis will take the lead
Invisible enemy, untrustworthy allies have troops questioning their purpose
By Richard EngelBeirut bureau chiefNBC News
Updated: 1:47 a.m. MT Oct 7, 2006
The U.S. Cavalry’s Crazy Horse, 3rd Platoon ventures out into Southern Baghdad, where the enemy is invisible, Iraqi allies untrustworthy, and where American troops increasingly ask themselves if this is their fight anymore. And who is the enemy?
“It’s not clear now who we’re always fighting: they’re terrorists, they’re criminals, they’re religious radicals,” says Sgt. Mike Schmieder of the Army’s 1-14 Cavalry.
Just how murky it’s become is obvious after only an hour on patrol. The platoon finds the body of a Sunni man executed and dumped by the roadside just 30 minutes earlier, along with his ID and a photograph of his daughter.
Then Iraqi police arrive — the soldiers think too quickly. No one called them.
The body that these soldiers found had been shot by an Iraqi policeman’s pistol; witnesses saw an Iraqi police car leave the scene. Now the soldiers are investigating to see if these police were themselves involved. Surprisingly, an Iraqi police lieutenant tells us he thinks fellow police did it.
“My men are infiltrated by Shiite militias and I can’t get rid of them,” he says. “If I report them, they’ll kill me.”
The troops say it’s frustrating not to trust their Iraqi counterparts. Do soldiers here ever ask themselves, “Why are we here? Is this our war anymore?”
“Oh yes, all the time. I ask myself that a lot, too,” says Spc. Vernon Roberson of 1-14 Cavalry. “We’ve been here for so long and we’ve done so much, but it’s just so far we can go.”
After the mission, the soldiers tell us their morale remains high, but insist Iraqis need to do more.
“It’s time for them to take the reins and take responsibility for their country,” they say.
Until then, it’s U.S. troops mediating, fighting and dying.© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: musical cahirs government, horribly corrupt police/militia/army with questionable loyalties, horrendous in-fighting. Just change the names and we have VietNam all over again. There we had a million-man army that melted away; here we have hundreds of thousand trained and armed by us acting in support of the death squads.
Guess the Repubs. thought Iraq had major advantages over Vietnam, hell it was already de-forestated. I remember people saying they wouldn’t have anywhere to hide. My response was they can hide in plain sight. Granted there is less opportunity to place anti-personnel booby traps, as you don’t have troops marching all over the desert. So of course it will be a slower bleed. The VC mainly tortured and killed their countrymen who helped the Americans, or who refused to help them. In Iraq it appears to be one faith against the other for control of the country. So there are differences. I do feel sorry for the civilians that just want to live in peace and raise their family, the ones living is mixed religious neighborhoods can not trust their police or army, are unable to pack up and travel to areas where they would be safe from their police, military and neighbors. Caught between a hard place and a rock. Maybe the Americans should have a relocation program and move the citizens to their respective safe areas, except I imagine that would be too dangerous for the Americans to be armed escorts, as they would just be blown up on the roads.
A Quest for Integrity
Dear Friends,
I am on a quest for integrity in Washington this week. The Democratic leadership plan to continue the war in Iraq by supporting yet another appropriations bill that is likely to go to the floor early next year granting an estimated $160 BILLION, the largest appropriation so far for the Iraq war. You can read my comments in an interview with Truthdig yesterday.
There is $70 billion already in the pipeline that can be used to bring the troops home.
There is only one way to end the war in Iraq – by cutting off funds. In October this year, $70 billion was appropriated for FY 2007; the $160 billion supplement will take the budget for the war in 2007 to $230 billion. 2006 saw $117 billion spent on the war, 2007 will be almost double. This will expand war, increase the violence, send more troops to the region, and push our nation into even further indebtedness.
Already over 18% of our tax dollars goes to service the interest on our national debt and 28% to the annual military budget (not including wars in Afghanistan and Iraq), whilst only 2% goes on housing and 0.3% on job training. (See tax chart.)
Last week I published a series of articles on the web which analyze the responsibilities of congress, the Campbell v Clinton case, of which I was part, which rules that appropriating funds is implied consent for the war (i.e., voting for appropriations = voting in favor of the war), looks at the voting record in the House and Senate, and puts forth a plan for US withdrawal and UN handover. Click here to read the articles.
Yesterday the Iraq Study Group issued their Iraq report, which I read in full last night and spoke about on the floor of the house today.
The report cites how 500,000 barrels of oil are being stolen per day in Iraq. That is $11.3 billion worth per year. This is interesting, since the Ministry of Oil was the first place our troops were sent after the invasion of Iraq and we now have 140,000 troops there.
How can we expect the end of the Iraq war and national reconciliation in Iraq, while we advocate that Iraq’s oil wealth by handled by private oil companies?
It is ironic that this report comes at the exact time the Interior Department’s Inspector General says that oil companies are cheating the US out of billions of dollars, while the Administration looks the other way.
Is it possible that Secretary Baker has a conflict of interest, which should have precluded him from co-chairing a study group whose final report promotes privatization of Iraq oil assets, given his ties to the oil industry? Is it possible that our troops are dying for the profits of private oil companies?
What kind of logic is it that says we need to appropriate $230 billion in a single financial year? The largest appropriation for the war in Iraq? The money is there to bring the troops home now.
A defective logic has invaded Capitol Hill. Democrats won the election because the American people want to end the war in Iraq, yet members feel they can say they oppose the war in Iraq while at the same time support an appropriation of $160 billion. They say the appropriation is to “support the troops,” yet will result in keeping them in Iraq for another two years.
We must work together to transform this destructive thinking.
I need your help.
Please contact your member of congress and the Democratic leadership, urging them to vote NO on the appropriations bill next year. An appropriation of $160 billion is enough to keep us in Iraq for another two years. In Government Oversight Committee hearings, I have personally questioned military officials, who state clearly that this war cannot be won militarily.
Would you buy a used war from this administration?
There is $70 billion already in the pipeline that can be used to bring the troops home and implement a real plan for stability in the region.
Sincerely,
Dennis J Kucinich