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Sixteen Representatives in House ask Bush to Bring Troops Home
by Open-Publishing - Saturday 15 January 20053 comments
Wars and conflicts International USA
Woolsey Leads 15 Members in Asking President to Bring Troops Home
January 12, 2005
PETALUMA, CA — U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) today led 15 Members of Congress in sending a letter to President Bush requesting that U.S. soldiers come home. Last week, she released a press statement calling for the return of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The following is Rep. Woolsey’s letter to President Bush calling for him to take immediate steps towards a withdrawal from Iraq:
January 12, 2005
The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
We write to urge you to take immediate steps to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Although the initial invasion of Iraq may have occurred with minimal troop deaths, the subsequent occupation of the country has been anything but successful. Already more than 1,300 American troops have lost their lives since the war began on March 19, 2003. At least 10,000 American troops have been injured as well, and it is impossible to know exactly how many thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed. Despite the enormity of the war’s casualties, the Iraqi insurgency continues to grow stronger with every passing day.
Iraq is no closer to becoming a stable democracy today than it was two years ago, as evidenced in recent weeks by the daily torrent of insurgent attacks on American forces and Iraqi civilian leaders. On January 4th, insurgents assassinated Ali Haidari, the governor of the Iraqi province that includes Baghdad. Just as devastating to the prospect of democracy, on December 30th, al-Jazeera satellite channel reported that all 700 electoral workers in Mosul quit their posts out of fear of being killed. Two weeks later, on January 10th, the entire 13-member electoral commission in the Anbar province, just west of Baghdad, resigned after being threatened by insurgents. If even Iraqi election officials fear for their lives, how can we possibly expect Iraqi citizens to feel safe going to the polls? How can we continue to put our own troops in harm’s way, the continued targets for Iraq’s thousands of malcontent insurgents?
It has become clear that the existence of more than 130,000 American troops stationed on Iraqi soil is infuriating to the Iraqi people - especially because Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction and did not have a connection to the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 or to the al Qaeda terrorist organization. Indeed, the very presence of Americans in Iraq is a rallying point for dissatisfied people in the Arab world. The events of the last two years have not only intensified the rage of the extremist Muslim terrorists, they have also ignited civil hostilities in Iraq that have made Americans and Iraqis substantially less safe. Therefore, by removing our troops from the country, we will remove the main focus of the insurgents’ rage.
Again, while it may be logistically difficult to immediately remove every American soldier, we urge you to take immediate action to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. This is the only way to truly support our troops. Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Rep. Lynn Woolsey
Rep. Woolsey led the following Members of Congress is signing a letter to President Bush: Danny Davis (IL-07), Lane Evans (IL-17), Sam Farr (CA-17), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07), Alcee Hastings (FL-23), Maurice Hinchey (NY-22), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02), Dennis Kucinich (OH-10), Barbara Lee (CA-09), John Lewis (GA-05), Jim McDermott (WA-07), Grace Napolitano (CA-38), Major Owens (NY-11), Jose Serrano (NY-16) and Pete Stark (CA-13).
http://woolsey.house.gov/newsarticle.asp?RecordID=390
Be sure to let President Bush know how you feel as well
The Horrible George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
If you are in the military, here is a great way to let Bush know how you feel
conscientious objector
http://www.objector.org/coclaim.html
And it is always a good idea to let the ICC know how you feel about Bush’s ’policies’ and the many reasons we would like to see him and his administration in their rightful place
ICC
Po Box 19519 2500 CM, The Hague The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 (0)70 515 8515 Fax: +31 (0)70 515 8555
pio@icc-cpi.int
Forum posts
15 January 2005, 07:22
Thank God for the leadership of Lynn Woolsey! Thank God for the other members backing her in this cry for mercy! Enough is enough! It’s long past the time for someone to have the strength and courage to demand—not ask, but demand—a stop to this immoral and intolerable waste of young American lives, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens!
And are other elected officials just content to sit back and do absolutely nothing in protest to this assault on humanity?
15 January 2005, 19:07
We’ll see if anything gets done: partisanship has never been stronger. Additionally, the lure of oil is just to much, for Bush to let go of Iraq. I have a feeling that the elections are going to be rigged there just as much as they were here, placing a republican lapdog in office. Thus, when this lapdog asks for troops to stay—as Bush wants them to—we will not have any other recourse than to emplace them there for an extended period of time.
16 January 2005, 04:30
Of course the Election will be rigged, our Administration already has their winner picked. Isn’t that the definition of Democracy to W., and Rummy, and gang... the person who we want to win, wins.
This gang of insurgents W., Rummy, Powell, etc.. didn’t waste all this time in Iraq just to make it a Democracy.
They will chose a leader, continue to set up permanent bases and let the oil keep flowing!
They are the Champions of Rigging Elections after all!!
I say we should have accountability in voting in the U.S.... we would see how few people would have voted W. if they would be the first to be drafted!