[Peace-discuss] Iraq War: conf. call with Sen. Durbin *this afternoon* (Wed 7/18) -- 4:30pm, or come to Randall Cotton's at 4:15

[Robert Naiman]

Some things that caught my attention:

Durbin seemed keen to explain why the Senate leadership chose not to
bring measures with more support than the Levin-Reid bill, like the
Salazar Iraq Study Group amendment, up for consideration after
Republicans blocked consideration of the Levin-Reid bill. Durbin's
answer was that the Senate leadership is setting the bar at voting for
legally binding withdrawal language. He argued that nothing less will
move Bush. This represents a hardening of the leadership position
since January, when the leadership claimed that it was meaningful to
pass a nonbinding resolution against the "surge." It's now a matter of
public record that Senator Durbin has said that nothing less than
legally binding withdrawal language is meaningful, so it would be
pretty awkward for them to try to argue for something less in the
future.

In a response to a question from Jeff Leys from Chicago (Voices for
Creative Nonviolence) about how many US troops Durbin envisions still
being in Iraq after something like the Levin-Reid bill, Durbin argued
that once a withdrawal is underway, the political momentum for
withdrawal would be unstoppable. He cited Kissinger to this effect,
that once the U.S. started withdrawing troops from Vietnam, Americans
demanded that all the troops be withdrawn. Durbin seemed to be
committing himself to total withdrawal as the end goal. [At least,
that is what I will argue if he ever tries to say different. :)]

Finally, kudos to Barbara Kessel for asking Durbin about the threat of
a U.S. attack on Iran.  Durbin said the U.S. doesn't have the forces
to "invade" Iran even if it wanted to and that Bush would face stiff
opposition in Congress (I am pretty sure he said "invade" rather than
"attack," unfortunately, making his answer much less useful.) Still,
it's a very good thing for Durbin to be asked about this as often as
possible.

>
> On Jul 18, 2007, at 3:56 PM,
>
> > Hello all,
> >
> > Passing along word from Randall Cotton and Durl Kruse that
> > Sen. Durbin is interested in speaking with peace groups in Illinois --
> > including AWARE -- on thoughts about the Iraq war, how we should
> > proceed, etc.
> >
> > There will be a conference call *this afternoon*, starting in about
> > half an hour, at 4:30 PM Wednesday July 18th.  Sorry for the short
> > notice!
> >
> > Sen. Durbin will speak for the first ten minutes or so, giving
> > his view of the situation, and then invite comments from
> > people on the conference call.
> >
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