[Peace-discuss] Call Tim now 202.225.2371

[C. G. Estabrook]

As of 5pm CST this evening, the House has not voted on the HR 4156, 
which provides more funding for the war (altho' the Democratic liberals 
have already gone through their ritualistic cave-in on the matter).

You can still call Rep. Tim Johnson's office in Washington at the number 
above and tell him what he ought to do.  No more funding for the war, 
except for withdrawal, seems right to me.

The material below is from Voices for Creative Non-violence (Kathy 
Kelly's group) in Chicago. --CGE

==================

The House will vote on HR 4156 on Wednesday, November 14. HR 4156 
provides another $50 billion to fund the war.

HR 4156 contains very modest language on withdrawal from Iraq.  The 
language contained in HR 4156 is actually a step back from the language 
that the House included in the war supplemental bill (HR 1591) it passed 
in March 2007.

Two significant differences include:

1)  Timeline for withdrawal.

HR 1591 required that U.S. troops begin being redeployed from Iraq no 
later than March 1, 2008, with the redeployment to be completed within 
180 days (with some notable exceptions for such activities as protecting 
the U.S. Embassy, training the Iraqi Army and engaging in 
counterterrorist activities).

HR 4156 contains no mandatory date for the completion of redeployment of 
U.S. forces from Iraq.  It requires that redeployment begin 30 days 
after enactment of the legislation.  Significantly, the bill's language 
is very permissive in terms of when the redeployment is to be completed, 
stating "The GOAL for the completion of the transition of United States 
Armed Forces to a limited presence and missions as described in 
subsection (e) shall be a date that is not later than December 15, 2008."

The only thing mandatory about redeployment contained in HR 4156 is that 
the goal date for completion of redeployment is no later than December 
15, but it says nothing about what would happen when that goal date is 
not met.

2)  Mission of U.S. Forces Remaining in Iraq

There is a very significant expansion in the language concerning what 
U.S. troops remaining in Iraq could be used for.

HR 1591 (March 2007) provided that U.S. troops remaining in Iraq after 
September 1, 2008 could be used for "Engaging in targeted special 
actions limited in duration and scope to killing or capturing members of 
al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations with GLOBAL REACH."

HR 4156 (the current bill) provides that remaining U.S. troops could be 
"Engaging in targeted counterterorrism operations against al-Qaeda, 
al-Qaeda affiliated groups and other terrorist organizations."

Gone from HR 4156 is the provision that the "other terrorist 
organizations" have "global reach".  Gone too from HR 4156 is the 
provision that the military action be "limited in duration and scope". 
These changes in language from last spring to the current bill marks a 
significant expansion of the purposes for which U.S. military forces 
remaining in Iraq could be used.  For example, under the earlier 
language, the various domestic militias in Iraq would not have been 
targets for U.S. military action since most lack "global reach".  By 
removing the "global reach" provision, HR 4156 makes every militia 
outside of the Iraqi army a viable target for the U.S. military forces 
remaining in Iraq.

Please feel free to contact Jeff Leys from here at Voices with questions 
which you might have regarding this matter.  Our phone number is 
773-878-3815.  His direct email is jeffleys at vcnv.org