My 'love' letter to Senator Mark Pryor, who likes to vote with the GOP.

[sinkingfeeling]

Dear Senator Pryor,

Having called your Washington DC office twice, being told someone would return my call, and not having received a reply, I respectfully request a written answer to my unaswered questions.

You were quoted in the Washington Post on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 as saying, " My strong preference would be to have a classified plan and a classified timetable that should be shared with Congress." A public deadline would tip off the enemy, "who might just bide their time and wait for us to leave." "Then you'd have chaos and mayhem and instability."

My question to you is the same one I have tried to get answered by the GOP and the White House for the last three years. Who is 'the enemy'?

Are the 'enemies' the Sunni minority in Iraq, that is mounting an insurgency against US occupation? Are the 'enemies' the 800 to 1200 belonging to a group called al Qaeda in Iraq? The same group who has been credited with killing Harith Dhaher al-Dhari, leader of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a major Sunni Arab insurgent group, yesterday? Or are the 'enemies' the Shiite death squads, who seem to be doing ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis?

So, what is that the US military is doing in Iraq? Are we assisting the Shiia in eradicating the minority Sunnis and turning the country over to those closely aligned with Iran? Are we fighting a military battle against the Sunni 'insurgency' who just might have a reason to detest the American occupation of their country? Or is our only goal to eliminate al Qaeda in Iraq, which may or may not be associated with bin Laden?

If the latter is the case, then I will ask you why with over 165,000 'coalition' troops, about 100,000 contracted 'security' forces, over 323,000 Iraqi 'security' forces, and with four years and $320 Billion, we have been unable to accomplish the goal?

This needless invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq, needs to end. Approximately 15% of the Iraqi population has either fled or been killed while world-wide acts of terrorism have increased seven fold. Why are we still there, creating more terror with every Iraqi we kill or torture or maim?

I urge you to vote with the Democratic leadership of the Senate to end this mess and start taking care of the people of the United States.

I await your reply.

[Cha]

1. That guy kills me..why didn't he

run as a republican? Are the majority of his constituents in Arkansas warmongering radicals? Are they going down to sign up for bush's misbegotten war on Iraq?

That's an excellent polite restrained letter..thanks for writing it and I hope you finally get an answer? I would love to hear his rationalizations.

Thanks for filling in the Democratic(?) Senator from Arkansas in on some of the details of what's going on in Iraq.

[kirby]

2. Reponse

Dear (insert constituent here),

I supported Senator Cochran's amendment to eliminate public timetables out of the Iraq War Supplemental because I believe that it is a mistake to publicly announce timetables. However, I do not agree with President Bush that America should have an open ended commitment to this war with no end in sight.

That is why I support a plan that would force the Administration to create a classified campaign plan for Iraq, including strategic and operational benchmarks and classified redeployment dates. I believe this route provides the necessary direction to the Administration and keeps our troops safe. It is in the best interest of our country to achieve a level of stability in the region and to get our men and women home as soon as possible.

As my hero, Sen Conrad Burns has explained to his constituents, if the President has a plan for this war, he sure as hell isn't going to tell the public about it.

[ArkySue]

3. Blech!!!

Sen Conrad Burns is his hero???? Gee, I thought it was LIEberman.

Pryor is up for re-election in 08. Waiting, waiting, waiting for a good progressive Dem to step up and challenge Pryor. Pryor rode into office on his daddy's good name.

Pryor: voted FOR the torture amendment, FOR confirming Gonzales, FOR tax breaks for Big Oil, ENDORSED Lieberman over Lamont (this while Pryor was on the DSCC committee). That's all I can bring up right now, or I may be bringing up my lunch!

Pryor Campaign motto: "Barely Better than a Republican"

[ArkySue]

4. I forgot...

He voted FOR suspending habeus corpus....and he's supposed to be a lawyer. I have to go lie down now.