On Tuesday night, President Bush vetoed legislation that would have started bringing our troops home this year. Congress is deciding right now how to respond.
Speaker Pelosi says Congress won't give the president another "blank check" on the war.1 But Democrats are under enormous pressure from the administration. Some, like Steny Hoyer, have started to abandon a timeline to end the occupation.2
If hundreds of thousands of us speak together we can make it clear we're counting on Congress to keep fighting for a timeline to end this war. Clicking here will add your name to the emergency petition:
http://pol.moveon.org/noveto/one_click_sign.pl?Yesterday tens of thousands of us turned out to hundreds of rallies from Spokane to West Palm Beach to show our widespread opposition to the president's veto. Our rallies reflected the mood in the country—Americans are fed up with endless war.
Now is the time for Democrats to keep the pressure on—not to buckle. Republicans are starting to break from the President. A leading house Republican said that their unity around the war would not last long.3 William F. Buckley, one of the architects of the modern conservative movement, wrote recently:
The opinion polls are savagely decisive on the Iraq question. About 60 percent of Americans wish the war ended—wish at least a timetable for orderly withdrawal......There are grounds for wondering whether the Republican Party will survive this dilemma.4But some politicians like Rep. Hoyer—the second ranking Democrat in Congress—are getting nervous and starting to back away from the fight. He recently said that he'd consider a bill that contained benchmarks to measure Iraq's progress but no timeline to end the war.
We have to be clear: benchmarks alone are not enough to end this war. Tell congress to stand firm:
http://pol.moveon.org/noveto/one_click_sign.plA timeline for withdrawal has overwhelming support from voters all the way to military leaders.
* Over 64% of Americans want Congress to set a deadline to end the occupation in Iraq.5
* The president's own Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates said, "The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a positive impact...in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment."6
* Ronald Reagan's former NSA director, General Odom, said just yesterday, "By vetoing this bill and failing to initiate an immediate and phased withdrawal, the President has effectively gone AWOL, deserting his duty post, leaving American forces with an impossible mission, suffering wholly unnecessary casualties."7
* Even President Bush himself has supported timelines in the past. In 1999, speaking of President Clinton, he said "I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn."8
Our troops are stranded in the middle of an unwinnable civil war with no end in sight. For four years the president's failed policy in Iraq has made a bad situation worse. It's time to get our troops out of this mess. It's time for the Iraqis to take control of their country.
Please click here to add your voice to thousands of others calling on Congress to stand firm and set a deadline to end this war.
http://pol.moveon.org/noveto/one_click_sign.plThanks for all you do,
–Nita, Justin, Wes, Karin and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
Sources
1 "Congress will not give the president a blank check," Speaker's Blog, May 1, 2007
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=322
2. "Insults Fly Over Compromise," Reuters, April 24, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2545&id=10277-6614772-4537ZW&t=6
3. "Senate preparing to send Bush the war bill he'll veto," San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2546&id=10277-6614772-4537ZW&t=7
4. "Iraq Threatens GOP Future," Universal Press Syndicate, April 30, 2007
http://www.nysun.com/article/53457
5. "Poll: Most Back Congress In Iraq Showdown," CBS News, April 26, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2547&id=10277-6614772-4537ZW&t=8
6. Generals Express Outrage at Presidential Veto, National Security Network, May 2, 2007
http://www.nsnetwork.org/node/144
7. "Gates Contradicts Bush, Cheney On Timelines," Thinkprogress, April 18 2007
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/18/gates-timeline/
8. "FLASHBACK: In 1999, Bush Demanded A Timetable." Thinkprogress, May 1, 2007
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/01/bush-timetable-2/
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