Home > "Today is the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq"
"Today is the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq"
by Open-Publishing - Friday 17 June 20054 comments
Wars and conflicts International USA
Washington - A bipartisan group of lawmakers called on Thursday on US President George W Bush to set a plan for the US withdrawal from Iraq, and said they would introduce legislation requiring him to do so.
The two Democrats and two Republicans, including two former presidential candidates, said they expect a cool reception to their proposal from leaders in the US Congress, but are counting on spurring public debate on US goals in Iraq.
"We’re giving the American people now a vehicle for discussion. Isn’t that the way America should work?" asked Representative Walter Jones, a conservative Republican from North Carolina.
Jones joined with Democratic representatives Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, and fellow Republican Ron Paul to propose that Congress require Bush to develop by the end of this year a plan to begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq in October 2006.
"Today is the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq. Our partnership reflects a shifting mood in Congress," said Kucinich, who fiercely opposed the war as a Democratic presidential candidate last year.
The four lawmakers said their bill was carefully drafted to avoid the bitter political disputes over US involvement in Iraq, and to be in line with Bush administration policies.
"This is not a Democratic approach or a Republican approach. This is a congressional approach," Kucinich said.
Polls have shown an erosion of public support for the Iraq war, in which more than 1,700 US troops have died, amid delays in the process of creating a new Iraqi government and persistent insurgent attacks.
But the White House has rejected calls to set a withdrawal schedule.
Paul, the 1988 Libertarian party nominee for president and now a Republican representative from Texas, said the resolution is "a reassertion of our reponsibility" as lawmakers.
"This is a shift in sentiment, and a shift in debate and we hope that we can contribute something positive," he said.
A similar resolution was introduced Wednesday in the Senate by Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.
Forum posts
17 June 2005, 01:56
MSNBC poll of the day....
Should the President set a date for partial troop withdrawal from Iraq? * 12827 responses
Yes 74% No 26%
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080261...
17 June 2005, 07:25
I hope you are right. I hope this is the start of cleaning house.
18 June 2005, 01:16
The hard truth about the US war in Iraq is that it is the beginning phase of what will be a series of oil/natiural gas wars fought in that region. There is much long-experienced and quite expert opinion on the state of oil/natural gas reserves left on the planet. One need only read the articles posted on the website for the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) As for energy alternatives, the book by James Howard Kunstler (THE LONG EMERGENCY) dispels the myth of renewable energy sources in the absence of an oil-based platform for the construction of the devices needed for such energy capture and storage. If any kind of morally responsible and truly intelligent political leadrship existed in the US, the truth about peak oil and decline would have been revealed long ago, along with plans for a world conference on managing the crisis, fair sharing what’s left of hydrocarbon energy, and developing the infrastructural platform for renewable energy use. That hasn’t happened, nor will it happen. It is too late for all that. What will follow the end of the oil age is well-described in the Kunstler book, which I recommend to anyone who has the nerve and moral courage to read and absorb it.
17 June 2005, 13:34
Fat chance. Just because democrats and moderate repubs want the US to leave Iraq at a certain timetable ain’t going to make it so. The thought that a fat bunch of civilians giving the military a timetable is laughable and incredibly idiotic.