‘End Our Military Involvement in Iraq’: AFL-CIO blog

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/03/07/end-our-military-involvement-in-iraq/

‘End Our Military Involvement in Iraq’

It is time for the United States to bring its military involvement in what has become a “civil war” in Iraq to an end, the AFL-CIO Executive Council says in a strongly worded statement approved today at its winter meeting in Las Vegas.

Here is the statement in its entirety:

No U.S. foreign policy can be sustained without the informed consent of the American people. Last November, the people spoke clearly, calling on the president and Congress to change course in Iraq. Rather than heed the will of the citizenry or listen to the military leaders speaking out against the current policy in Iraq, the president has chosen to escalate military action. This blind pursuit of the war now undermines the very war on terror that was its justification.

More than 3,100 U.S. men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, with nearly 30,000 wounded, many of them severely. Estimates of Iraqi lives lost range from 60,000 to many hundreds of thousands.

We should not be asking our young men and women who serve this nation in its armed forces to remain in Iraq on extended tours without proper armor or equipment, caught in an endless occupation in the midst of a civil war. The men and women risking their lives in Iraq come from America’s working families. They are our sons and daughters, our sisters and brothers, our husbands and wives. They have answered their call to duty with the utmost courage and dedication. And the best way now to recognize and honor their service is to take them out of harm’s way.

It is time to bring our military involvement in Iraq to an end. Admittedly, there are no good options now in that country. It has descended into a sectarian civil struggle, with American troops caught in the crossfire. The latest National Intelligence Estimate reports that the greatest violence comes not from al Qaeda and foreign terrorists, but from sectarian militias caught up in their own internal conflict.

FULL story at link.

[Vexatious Ape]

1. I'm hoping this catches on. Not just labor unions but other

organizations as well.