[Peace-discuss] Party politics

[C. G. Estabrook]

It's certainly important to understand what the official parties are 
actually doing, particularly when it contrasts so sharply with what they 
say they are doing.  But that shouldn't lead us to wash our hands of the 
parties entirely.  As exercises in misleading the many for the benefit 
of the few, they are are always going to contain contradictions, and we 
want to highlight them, not ignore them.  As Arnove says rightly, "We 
have to take advantage of the cracks that are opening within the 
establishment to campaign vocally and publicly against the war, 
involving greater numbers of the people and communities affected by the 
war at home..."

Here's one now:

	July 19, 2007
	Liberals Vow to Block Continued Iraq Funding

Seventy House members, nearly all liberal Democrats, vowed today that 
they would not support any more funding for Iraq military operations 
unless tied to a complete withdrawal of combat troops.

This is a big development. Earlier this year, liberals grudgingly voted 
for Iraq funding bills because they didn't want to give Nancy Pelosi a 
defeat. Now it seems that their patience has run out.

The next Iraq funding bill won't come up until the fall, so this 
showdown won't happen for a few months, but it appears to be shaping up 
as an epic battle between liberals in Congress and President Bush. This 
may be the beginning of the end for the Iraq War.

The liberals' full letter to Bush--

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating 
additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 
2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our 
troops out of Iraq before you leave office.

More than 3,600 of our brave soldiers have died in Iraq. More than 
26,000 have been seriously wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have 
been killed or injured in the hostilities and more than 4 million have 
been displaced from their homes. Furthermore, this conflict has 
degenerated into a sectarian civil war and U.S. taxpayers have paid more 
than $500 billion, despite assurances that you and your key advisors 
gave our nation at the time you ordered the invasion in March, 2003 that 
this military intervention would cost far less and be paid from Iraqi 
oil revenues.

We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who 
are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, 
and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to 
unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on 
Americans currently and for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA); Rep. Barbara Lee (CA); Rep. Maxine Waters (CA); 
Rep. Ellen Tauscher (CA); Rep. Rush Holt (NJ); Rep. Maurice Hinchey 
(NY); Rep. Diane Watson (CA); Rep. Ed Pastor (AZ); Rep. Barney Frank 
(MA); Rep. Danny Davis (IL); Rep. John Conyers (MI); Rep. John Hall 
(NY); Rep. Bob Filner (CA); Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY); Rep. Bobby Rush 
(IL); Rep. Charles Rangel (NY); Rep. Ed Towns (NY); Rep. Paul Hodes 
(NH); Rep. William Lacy Clay (MO); Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR); Rep. 
Albert Wynn (MD); Rep. Bill Delahunt (MA); Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton 
(DC); Rep. G. K. Butterfield (NC); Rep. Hilda Solis (CA); Rep. Carolyn 
Maloney (NY); Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY); Rep. Michael Honda (CA); Rep. 
Steve Cohen (TN); Rep. Phil Hare (IL); Rep. Grace Flores Napolitano 
(CA); Rep. Alcee Hastings (FL); Rep. James McGovern (MA); Rep. Marcy 
Kaptur (OH); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL); Rep. Julia Carson (IN); Rep. 
Linda Sanchez (CA); Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ); Rep. John Olver (MA); Rep. 
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX); Rep. Jim McDermott (WA); Rep. Ed Markey (MA); 
Rep. Chaka Fattah (PA); Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ); Rep. Rubin Hinojosa 
(TX); Rep. Pete Stark (CA); Rep. Bobby Scott (VA); Rep. Jim Moran (VA); 
Rep. Betty McCollum (MN); Rep. Jim Oberstar (MN); Rep. Diana DeGette 
(CO); Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA); Rep. Artur Davis (AL); Rep. Hank Johnson 
(GA); Rep. Donald Payne (NJ); Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (MO); Rep. John Lewis 
(GA); Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY); Rep. Neil Abercrombie (HI); Rep. Gwen 
Moore (WI); Rep. Keith Ellison (MN); Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI); Rep. Donna 
Christensen (USVI); Rep. David Scott (GA); Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL); 
Lois Capps (CA); Steve Rothman (NJ); Elijah Cummings (MD); and Rep. Ron 
Paul (R-TX).


http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0707/Liberals_Vow_to_Block_Continued_Iraq_Funding.html