KARE11 video on Iraqi visitors to MN & troop withdrawl bill (Jones)

[katinmn]

Good report from KARE11! They were the only TV station at the forum last night. Other media that covered or plan to report on the visit are the Strib, Wendy Wilde (AAR), Spokesman-Recorder, Pulse (great cover story this week), City Pages, and numerous union newspapers. Several hundred people attended the forum.

As posted previously, two Iraqi labor leaders were in St. Paul yesterday talking about the impact of the occupation on Iraqi workers as part of a 20+ U.S. city tour. (See my sig line) The Iraqis said only U.S. troop withdrawal will end the violence.

For the first time I can feel the momentum building across the country and I feel it's a question of when, not if. Peace!

High Speed (Windows)http://www.kare11.com/player.aspx?aid=15612&bw=
Dial-up (Windows)
http://www.kare11.com/player.aspx?aid=15613&bw=

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=99...
A bi-partisan group of U.S. lawmakers says the time has come to begin pulling American troops out of Iraq. They say they want a firm timetable from President Bush, but the White House says that's not going to happen.

North Carolina Republican Walter Jones was once so supportive of the war in Iraq; he coined the term ‘freedom fries’ to mock reluctant France. On Thursday, he expressed reservations of his own.
-snip-
But two Iraqi union organizers brought to Minnesota by the United Steelworkers Union, argue that the presence of U.S. troops is drawing foreign terrorists to their country who wouldn't otherwise be there.

Amjad Ali Aljawhry says the Iraqi people can take care of themselves, “The Iraqi people don’t need a babysitter.”
-more-

[hermetic]

1. Thanks for all you do

:hug:

[katinmn]

4. Thanks!

:hug: back at you.

[Minnesota Raindog]

2. Somebody should tell Mark Dayton

The Iraqis said only U.S. troop withdrawal will end the violence.

(excerpt from Pioneer Press story)

WASHINGTON — When it comes to the Iraq war, there aren't many things that Minnesota Sens. Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton agree on.

But since a small bipartisan group in the House of Representatives launched an effort earlier this week to map out a concrete exit strategy for U.S. troops in Iraq, the hawkish Republican and the anti-war Democrat have found a scrap of common ground: Both senators are leery of joining their fellow lawmakers in calling for an exit date for American armed forces in the Middle East...

...Dayton, meanwhile, distanced himself from fellow Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, who is spearheading similar legislation in the Senate that would firm up the U.S. military's exit strategy. But Dayton — who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee — said he was conflicted on the issue, and worried that the Bush administration would not come up with a plan on its own without prodding.

"I'm not convinced that setting a date supports (our) goal or is conducive to it," Dayton said Wednesday. "On the other hand, I think the administration needs to be pressed to tell us what it's doing to accelerate the timetable."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/politics/11914293.htm

[katinmn]

3. An aide to Sen. Dayton read a letter of support from the senator

I, too, wish he were taking a bigger lead in calling for an end to the quagmire. I think we need to spend more time with him!

An aide to Rep. McCollum also read a statement of support at the forum. Rep. McCollum has signed on as a co-sponsor to the Jones-Kucinich-Paul-Ambercrombie bill calling for troop withdrawal no later than October 2006 and a plan outlining goals by the end of the year.

I hope it's sooner.