[Peace-discuss] Congressional bills regarding Iraq

[Ricky Baldwin]

Thanks, Mort!

When we start meeting with our Congressional reps, my
picks at first glance would probably be:

SR 39 (need for approval by the Congress before any
offensive military action by the United States against
another nation [read Iran, Syria - although presidents
seem to have little trouble getting approval);

HR 413 (To repeal the Authorization for Use of
Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 and to
require the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces
from Iraq); 

HR 455 (To provide for the protection of members of
the United States Armed Forces and for their
withdrawal from Iraq by December 31, 2007); 

HR 663 (prohibits the escalation of the Iraq war
without specific congressional approval and calls for
the “responsible redeployment” of U.S. Armed Forces
from Iraq to be completed within approximately one
year. H.R. 663 also bars permanent U.S. military bases
in Iraq, emphasizes reconstruction assistance guided
by a Special Envoy for Iraq Reconstruction, seeks to
punish reconstruction fraud, and calls for a renewed
diplomatic effort in the region, including a new
effort at an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement); 

McGovern bill (within 30 days of enactment, the U.S.
shall begin the safe and orderly withdrawal of all
U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq. This withdrawal, which
will be financed by already appropriated funds, is to
be completed within 180 days ... all U.S. bases shall
be transferred to the authority of the Iraqi
government [no permanent bases]); 

Lee-Allen bill (it is the policy of the United States
not to establish permanent military bases in Iraq or
to exercise control over Iraqi oil resources).

I wonder what others think.

I haven't read the bills, just the summaries, and some
of these are not really what I'd call GREAT, but it's
a starting point for dicussion, right?

Seems to me most of them are pretty bad, including
some of the "liberals" like Feingold (leaving a
minimal level of U.S. forces in Iraq to “engage
directly in targeted counterterrorism activities,
train Iraq security forces, and protect United States
infrastructure and personnel in Iraq”).  Others are
incredibly weak, like Clinton's "announced" bill (cap
troops at Jan 1 levels - not wrong, just
unconscionably insufficient). 

What do we think?

Letters to the editor?  To Congress?  Phone calls? 
Meetings?  What?

Ricky

--- "Morton K. Brussel" <brussel4 at insightbb.com>
wrote:

> For those who want to see what's going on (bills
> considered---there  
> are many) in Congress relative to Iraq, see
> 
>
http://www.clw.org/policy/iraq/legislative_initiatives_on_iraq/
> 
> index.html
> 
> --mkb
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> 



 
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