Woolsey leads call to bring soldiers home

[goodhue]

http://www.marinij.com/Stories/0,1413,234~24407~2676717,00.html

Woolsey leads call to bring soldiers home

By Richard Halstead, IJ reporter

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D, Petaluma, turned the heat up another notch on the Bush administration yesterday, introducing a resolution along with two dozen other House members that calls on the president to begin the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

The resolution was signed by 24 other House Democrats, including Reps. Pete Stark of Fremont, Barbara Lee of Oakland, Maxine Waters of Los Angeles and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. Woolsey first called for bringing the troops home in a statement issued on Jan. 3. Then on Jan. 12, she and 15 other House Democrats sent a letter to President Bush asking for an immediate withdrawal.

"Some say that we have a responsibility to the people of Iraq to keep our troops there, that we must not abandon them. This misses the point," Woolsey said yesterday, in a speech delivered on the House floor. "Our very presence in Iraq is the cause of much of the violence. We have a moral responsibility to leave in order to stem the violence."

* * *

"American soldiers and Iraqi civilians continue to die in staggering numbers, American taxpayers continue to spend millions of dollars every day on a losing effort, and Iraq is no closer to becoming a stable democracy than it was two years ago," Woolsey said

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http://www.marinij.com/Stories/0,1413,234~24407~2676717,00.html

[goodhue]

1. original co-sponsors

http://woolsey.house.gov/newsarticle.asp?RecordID=395

The resolution that Rep. Woolsey will introduce later today calls on the President to take the following action:

1. Develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq;

2. Develop and implement a plan for the reconstruction of Iraq’s civil and economic infrastructure;

3. Convene an emergency meeting of Iraq’s leadership, Iraq’s neighbors, the United Nations, and the Arab League to create an international peacekeeping force in Iraq and to replace U.S. military forces with Iraqi police and National Guard forces to ensure Iraq's security; and

4. Take all necessary steps to provide the Iraqi people the opportunity to completely control their internal affairs.

The following are the original co-sponsors of Rep. Lynn Woosley’s resolution: Reps. Xavier Becerra, John Conyers, Danny Davis, Lane Evans, Sam Farr, Raul Grijalva, Maurice Hinchey, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Dennis Kucinich, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Barbara Lee, John Lewis, Jim McDermott, Cynthia McKinney, Gwen Moore, Grace Napolitano, Major Owens, Ed Pastor, Charlie Rangel, Jan Schakowsky, Jose Serrano, Pete Stark, Maxine Waters, and Diane Watson.

[katinmn]

2. Good for Woolsey! And with Kennedy's speech today and

his plan for pulling out of Iraq, signs are encouraging.

I'm glad the Dems are speaking out.

The writing is on the wall. Bush's plan to invade Iraq, take over the oil rich Middle East, and eventually the world, isn't workable.

[0007]

3. My heart stopped when I saw the headline to this story.

God I thought, did James Woolsey go soft. I forgot all about Lynn Woolsey!

I hope he can get through to those dimwits, halfwits and nitwits that are snoozing.

[Mystified]

8. I thought the same thing!

I thought, "James Woolsey, ex-CIA director???" But then I read and remembered it's James Woolsley, not Woolsey

[0007]

12. Woolsey is the same for Lynn and James!

[KC21304]

13. Isn't that ironic ? James Woolsey is one of the

bastards responsible for this mess.

[bahrbearian]

11. Same Here .

[lazarus]

4. Here's a possible problem with this

Yeah, I want the troops home, now. Very much so.

We also know that Bush wants to invade Iran. Suppose they'll bring the troops home, only to send them back out again?

Will the Dems have enough power to fight a war resolution, again? And maybe actually do it this time?

[EVDebs]

6. The War Powers Act of 1973 requires truthful 'circumstances'

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/warpow.html

Sections 3 and 4 requiring 'consultation' and 'reporting'

""...where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances"

and

""the estimated scope and duration of the hostilities or involvement""

and

""...the President shall, so long as such armed forces continue to be engaged in such hostilities or situation, report to the Congress periodically on the status of such hostilities or situation as well as on the scope and duration of such hostilities or situation, but in no event shall he report to the Congress less often than once every six months.""

By lying to Congress about WMDs, and by fabricating an 'endless' war, Woolsey and the Democrats (and any Republicans with their thinking caps still on) will be fulfilling their Constitutional duties which this administration has ignored.

More power to Woolsey and her friends in Congress. The people are with you.

[lazarus]

7. Yeah

and it was thrown down and danced up by the Bush admin and Congress for the Iraq war. Nobody seems to care except us out here on the fringe.

[EVDebs]

9. Someone like Woolsey of all people to bring this to the intelligensia's

attention. The law was right there all the time...just...waiting...and waiting...to be acted upon !

[EVDebs]

5. Powell Doctrine ignored by W. "A World Transformed" by stupidity

ensued. No debate was allowed. The Powell Doctrine, which required an 'exit strategy' was shit-canned. The War Powers Act of 1973, which incidently is embedded within the Joint Resolution authorizing this fiasco, requires that the 'circumstances' for war (truthful circumstances, since lying to Congress is supposedly a punishable offense) requires every six months reportings to Congress. Cutting funds for this fiasco is how to go about this it seems to me. Just look at the chart published yesterday in the NYTimes showing deficit rising to $427 billion this year with worse to come if the war continues...

With that said, go to this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1530280&mesg_id=1530280

which shows that Republicans are committing the US military to from 5 to 20 years more in Iraq. They don't have an exit strategy and never did.

Congresswoman Woolsey is correct in her bill's intent. Make the US military shit or get off the pot. They couldn't account for $2.3 TRILLION awhile back and still can't, all the while your local fire and school districts are having to make due on bake sales ! See "War on waste" CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml
maybe reporting on this is why neocons went after CBS's reporting so viciously a little while ago. They can't handle the truth. So, more delusions from the Republicans' bizarre parallel universe, as Bob Herbert put it.

The Iraq adventure was a gamble. Any gambler will tell you you cut your losses and leave the table when you run out of chips to play.

[Vidar]

10. Good stratagem.

[struggle4progress]

14. kick