[Peace-discuss] DI: Protesters condemn troop increase in Iraq

[Robert Naiman]

Johnson was on WILL this morning, stating his opposition to the surge.

He also said that he would not support cutting off the funding for the
surge and claimed that this would be unconstitutional, separation of
powers, blah, blah.

While this is nonsense, of course, I thought it was interesting what
he didn't say: where he would stand on a resolution against the surge,
which is likely to be the next vote he will have to face. Presumably,
if he is against the surge, and there is a nonbinding resolution
against the surge, he ought to vote for it.

On 1/12/07, Ricky Baldwin <baldwinricky at yahoo.com> wrote:
> By the way, shouldn't we write to Tim Johnson and
> praise and stroke him for this?  And remind him what
> we want him to do next ;-) ?
>
> More letters to the editor would be good now, too...
> There have been some good ones lately ...
> Ricky
> --- Robert Naiman  <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Protesters condemn troop increase in Iraq
> > Ill. Representative Tim Johnson expresses disdain
> > for Bush's plan
> > Sky Opila, Daily Illini, 1/12/07
> >
> http://www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2007/01/12/News/Protesters.Condemn.Troop.Increase.In.Iraq-2628474.shtml
> >
> > [If you go to the web site there is a nice
> > slideshow.]
> >
> > President Bush's public address Wednesday night
> > launched protests
> > across the country, including more than 487 protests
> > sponsored by the
> > activist organization MoveOn.org, which aimed to
> > demonstrate
> > displeasure with Bush's plan to escalate the efforts
> > in Iraq.
> >
> > One such protest took place at the Champaign County
> > Courthouse
> > Veterans Memorial, 101 E. Main St., in Urbana
> > Thursday night. Roughly
> > 30 people, many of whom are residents of the
> > Champaign-Urbana area,
> > assembled and held signs protesting Bush's public
> > announcement of his
> > plans to send more troops in support of efforts in
> > Iraq.
> >
> > "There are hundreds of events happening across the
> > country like this
> > event today," said Robert Naiman, national
> > coordinator for Just
> > Foreign Policy, an independent and non-partisan
> > mass-membership
> > organization dedicated to U.S. foreign policy.
> >
> > Naiman said these events are trying to call on
> > Congress to stop this
> > decision by Bush.
> > ...
> > On Thursday, Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Ill., sent out a
> > press release that
> > expressed his opposition to the effort being put
> > forth by Bush with
> > regards to the war in Iraq.
> >
> > "I do not support a build-up of 21,500 American
> > troops in Iraq
> > because, in my view, it is not in the best interest
> > of our country to
> > contribute additional troops to this war," Johnson
> > said in the
> > release. "The people of America and, most
> > importantly, the 15th
> > District made their collective voices heard Nov. 7."
> >
> > Protesters were outraged over Bush's speech because
> > of the clear cut
> > opposition in a majority of polls across the nation
> > and a local
> > referendum in Champaign County that voted on Nov. 7
> > to remove troops
> > from Iraq.
> >
> > Tim Grider, employee of the Veterans Administration
> > for five years,
> > drove 60 miles from his home in Indiana to attend
> > the protest in
> > Urbana.
> >
> > "It's the one small thing that I can do to voice and
> > show my
> > opposition," said Grider. "For every one person
> > that's standing here,
> > there is probably another 1,000 that want to be
> > here."
> >
> > Naiman said he put the protest together in hopes of
> > raising awareness
> > with community members and pleading with them to
> > contact their
> > representative about stopping the escalation in
> > Iraq.
> >
> > "Our goal is to remind our representative and our
> > senators that we are
> > deeply and passionately opposed to the President's
> > policy, deeply and
> > passionatly opposed to the war ... and we want
> > Congress to take
> > responsibility to stop the escalation," Naiman said.
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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>
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