Call your Rep. and tell them to sign on to the Homeward Bound Act!

[katinmn]

Dear MoveOn member,
Cindy Sheehan's vigil in Texas has put the problems of the Iraq war on TV and in the newspapers—forcing President Bush and congressional leaders to deal with them. Now, the Bush administration has launched a public relations tour of the country to convince the public that things aren't going so badly in Iraq. As part of that tour, President Bush implied yesterday that Iraq attacked us on September 11—a deception meant to justify his failures in Iraq.1

We need leaders who will step up and say, "enough is enough."

Now, we might have the beginnings of a sea change in Congress. Republican Congressman Walter Jones, the formerly pro-war Republican representative who coined the term "Freedom Fries," joined a bi-partisan group of legislators this summer to call for a concrete plan to bring our troops home from Iraq.2 Will you call your representative and urge them to sign on as a co-sponsor?

Call:

YOUR Congressperson

Tell the staffer who answers something like the following,

"My name is _________ and I am a constituent of Rep. xxxx. I am calling to ask her to sign on as co-sponsor of the Homeward Bound Act—House Joint Resolution 55—to insist that we have a real plan to bring our troops home from Iraq. It is bipartisan and an important step in the right direction."

After you make a call, please report your call by clicking on the link below.

http://political.moveon.org/call?tg=FHMN_04&cp_id=83&id=5925-4591651-MuZ_wkAl77xtMfbkyGISoQ&t=2

The resolution, known as the Homeward Bound Act (House Joint Resolution 55), was introduced by Jones, fellow Republican Rep. Ron Paul and Democratic Congressmen Neil Abercrombie and Dennis Kucinich. It would require the president to put together a plan by the end of the year for bringing home all U.S. forces from Iraq—with troop withdrawal beginning no later than October 1, 2006. It is an important step in the right direction, and with Republican co-sponsors it creates real pressure to change course.

There are 50 members of Congress who have signed up as co-sponsors of the Homeward Bound Act. That's a good start but we need more—our goal is to have more than 100 co-sponsors by the time Congress returns September 6. If we can do that it will show that Cindy Sheehan's vigil has added to the pressure on our leaders to come up with a real plan for Iraq.

After you make your call, please let your friends, family and colleagues know about the Homeward Bound Act by forwarding this e-mail or calling them. Here are some points you can make when discussing why we need an exit plan for Iraq.

The war in Iraq has made America less safe and our presence fuels the growing insurgency.3 If we start to come home, it will defuse the hostility that is fueling the insurgency.

Deadlines force actions. That is the only way to force the Bush administration to get serious and to force the Iraqis to compromise amongst themselves in order to create peace and prosperity.

Congress has a duty here that they shouldn't ignore. Our troops have done everything we've asked of them in Iraq. Now it is time for politicians to do their job.
How did we settle on support for H.J. Res. 55? In June, we asked MoveOn members what they think we should do and more than 85 percent agreed that a plan like this bipartisan resolution was a step in the right direction. It gives the Iraqis some time to get their house in order while making it clear we won't be in Iraq forever. Without real deadlines, there is little incentive for things to improve.

It is critically important that the momentum created by Cindy Sheehan and last week's vigils continues. Let's keep the ball rolling. Please make a call today.

Thanks for all you do.

–Tom, Carrie, Matt, Joan and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Wednesday, Auguest 24th, 2005

Sources:

1. "Bush Defending His Iraq War Policy," Associated Press, August 23, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=844

2. "Support Said Growing of Iraq Exit Plan," Associated Press, August 18, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=845

3. "Blowing Up an Assumption," The New York Times, May 19, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=846

[davidinalameda]

1. is there a list of co-sponsors anywhere

[katinmn]

2. You can look here: http://www.house.gov/

I just called my reps office and asked them to look it up. I was surprised McCollum wasn't on it yet. She voted against the last round of war funding.