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Very nice work, Bob.<br>
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Thank you.<br>
<br>
<br>
On 05/17/12 3:18, Robert Naiman wrote:
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cite="mid:CALMNhNR4A95SKMQDgxGjLSfRfXi8a033xv4GYDf-1dvMeooEOg@mail.gmail.com"
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style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;"><a
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href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/16-8" target="_blank">http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/16-8</a> <br>
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<i>Published on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 by </i><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.commondreams.org/"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: italic; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">Common Dreams</a></span>
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style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
<h2
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 23.4px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 23.4px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">House
Moots Afghan Exit, Iran War, Military Budget, and "Signature" Drone
Strikes</h2>
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<div
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 13.8px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 16px; font-weight: bold;">by <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.commondreams.org/robert-naiman"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">Robert Naiman</a></div>
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<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">On
Wednesday and Thursday, the House is expected to take up consideration
of the National Defense Authorization Act. Amendments will be offered
to expedite military withdrawal from Afghanistan, to oppose war with
Iran, to cut the military budget, and to stop "signature" drone strikes
that target people without knowing who will be killed.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
According to the way the House operates, the authorization bill is the
most open opportunity to challenge current policy. When the House
considers the appropriations bill, amendments can be offered to cut
money for specific programs. But it is difficult to otherwise alter
policy when the appropriation is considered, according to the rules of
the House. On the authorization bill, there is much more scope to try
to direct policy.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
<span
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px 20px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); float: right; font-weight: bold; text-align: right; width: 216px; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px rgb(183, 183, 183);">Every
American who cares about war and peace ought to be calling Congress.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation has established a
toll-free number that connects you to the Capitol Switchboard: <strong
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="tel:1-877-429-0678" value="+18774290678"
target="_blank">1-877-429-0678</a></strong>. Then you can ask to be
transferred to your Representative's office. [If you can't call, you
can write <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/ndaa2013"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">here</a>.]</span></p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
Every American who cares about war and peace ought to be calling
Congress. The Friends Committee on National Legislation has established
a toll-free number that connects you to the Capitol Switchboard: <strong
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="tel:1-877-429-0678" value="+18774290678"
target="_blank">1-877-429-0678</a></strong>. Then you can ask to be
transferred to your Representative's office. [If you can't call, you
can write <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/ndaa2013"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">here</a>.]</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
What should you tell your Representative's office? Whatever else you
do, you should tell them that you are a constituent and give them your
address to document that fact.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">Then
you have some choices to make about what to emphasize. Many amendments
have been <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/Legislation/legislationDetails.aspx?NewsID=828"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">offered</a>. At this writing, we don't know which
amendments will be allowed on the floor by the Rules Committee. Once
the Rules Committee has decided which amendments it will allow, there
might not be much time before voting begins. So it's better to call
when you can and emphasize broad themes.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
For example, you could say: "I urge you to support amendments that
would expedite U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, oppose war
with Iran, cut the military budget, and bar the military from
conducting drone strikes against people whose identities are not known."</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
It is virtually certain that the Rules Committee will allow at least
one amendment which would expedite U.S. military withdrawal from
Afghanistan. Such amendments have been offered by<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/MCGOVE_056_xml51512085807587.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">Reps. Jim McGovern and Walter Jones</a>, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/Afghanistan515121110441044.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">Rep. Adam Smith</a>, and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/LEE_123_xml514122036463646.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">Rep. Barbara Lee</a>.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
Representative John Conyers is offering an <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/CONYER_101_xml51512090353353.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">amendment</a> that would push back against the drive
for war with Iran. The amendment, offered jointly with Reps. Keith
Ellison, Ron Paul and Walter Jones, would make explicit that nothing in
the bill authorizes the use of force against Iran. That might sound
modest, and indeed it is. But in fact the gang baying for war with Iran
is so fanatic that you can't say anything against war that if you say,
"let's pass a resolution that we won't have a war with Iran on Saturday
at 3:37 pm.," they break out in hives. So it's a brilliant move by
Conyers to try to force the House to vote on this.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
Rep. Conyers is also offering amendments that would cut the military
budget by <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/CONYER_104_xml51512090958958.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">terminating the F-35B</a> , by moving ahead with <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/CONYER_102_xml51512090748748.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">retirement of 18 Global Hawk drones</a> as proposed by
the Administration, and by <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/MARKEY_117515120814161416.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">delaying the new long-range nuclear-capable bomber</a>.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
Representative Dennis Kucinich, supported by Rep. Conyers, is offering
an <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/KUCINI_055_xml514121743264326.pdf"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">amendment</a> that would prohibit the military from
carrying out drone strikes against unidentified targets. Senior U.S.
officials have expressed concern that such "signature strikes" greatly
increase the risk of civilian casualties. Indeed, just in the last
week, between eight and twelve civilians were killed in U.S. drone
strikes in Yemen, according to <em
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/15/world/meast/yemen-violence/"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">CNN</a></em> and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/05/15/suspected-drone-strikes-kill-12-civilians-in-yemen/"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(0, 85, 136); text-decoration: none;"
target="_blank">The Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a>. The
Kucinich-Conyers amendment shows that Members of Congress are concerned
about civilian casualties from drone strikes and the expansion of drone
strikes that is currently underway in Yemen.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
Judging from past years, most of the amendments that have been offered
are not going to pass, and that's not surprising. If everyone already
agreed on the underlying policy, in most cases, it would already be in
the bill. But Afghanistan might be an exception to this trend, because
the Republican leadership is out of touch with the majority of
Republican opinion on military withdrawal from Afghanistan; in a free
vote on the floor, the Republican leadership may lose. Already, a year
ago, an amendment offered by Reps. McGovern and Jones urging expedited
withdrawal from Afghanistan got more than 200 votes on the floor.</p>
<p
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; padding: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit;">
But amendments that don't pass are also useful. They force Members of
the House to stand up and be counted on particular issues, and raise
the profile of concern about those issues. If they draw sufficient
support, they send a signal to the Administration of significant
Congressional concern. If eighty Members of Congress voted for the
Kucinich-Conyers amendment to limit drone strikes, it would be
historic, because Congress has never tried to limit drone strikes
before. The Administration would notice, and that might lead them to be
more cautious in expanding a policy that is already controversial
inside the Administration. And if that saved the lives of eight or
twelve civilians in Yemen who wouldn't be killed in a U.S. drone
strike, wouldn't that be worth doing?</p>
<span><font color="#888888">
</font></span></div>
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<span><font color="#888888"><br>
-- <br>
Robert Naiman<br>
Policy Director<br>
Just Foreign Policy<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org"
target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org"
target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
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