Just in from John Kerry RE: Webb Amendment

[wicket]

Hello wicket,

I just came back from the Senate floor, and I have to tell you, I'm pretty steamed.

Republicans who love to give speeches about "supporting the troops," and so many of whom have said they disagree with the President's disastrous Iraq policy, just voted to side with the President over the welfare of our troops.

My colleague Jim Webb from Virginia (Jim's a Marine - and I say "is" because you're a Marine until the day you die, and the Senate's a hell of a lot better to have this Marine here) - Jim introduced an amendment that set 12 months as the maximum time soldiers could be deployed in Iraq, and also set a minimum time for them to be home in the States (so they couldn't just get rotated back out).

Any one who has ever worn the uniform of our country knows what a difference that time at home makes. But of course the "operational tempo" has had to be upped so high to carry out President Bush's escalation that the Army has had to extend tours and cut leave short. We're trying to protect our soldiers by making sure that ends.

But the Republicans won't even let it come to a vote. They'd rather side with the President and the President's Iraq policy than give our soldiers the treatment they deserve. It's outrageous.

You know what? I didn't plan to do this, but our Roadblock Republicans campaign back in April got a lot of people's attention, and helped to up the pressure on the GOP caucus, pressure that has resulted in so much Republican talk about how we need a new path. Well, I certainly welcome the sentiments, but we need to make sure there's action to back up that talk. Take a minute and donate a few dollars to the funds for the challengers of a few key GOP Senators.

Let them know we need action.

These funds go to the eventual Democratic nominee in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas. Some Republicans are abandoning the President's position and voted the right way on Jim Webb's amendment; all of your pressure has helped there, but we still have some more Republicans we need to convince. The Senators from those states above sided with the neocons and the President over the needs of the American troops bearing the real burden of the disastrous policy in Iraq. They only support symbolic legislation that won't change our policy one bit, or worse stick by an escalation that has led us further down the path to quagmire.

If you'd like to register your disapproval, give to the funds of their challengers.

We're definitely making progress in this fight, so I'm happy about that, but I'll only really be happy when we've changed course. Period. It's imperative that these Republicans join with us in doing something about it. As my friend Harry Reid said a little while ago, it's a moral imperative to get a new direction in our Iraq policy; lives are at stake.

Well, thanks for your time; I just had to get this off my chest.

John Kerry

John Kerry For U.S. Senate
129 Portland Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02114-2014
[email protected]
www.johnkerry.com


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