Breaking: FEINGOLD To Introduce Legislation Establishing Timetable For Iraqi Withdrawal

[kpete]

Breaking: Feingold to call for Iraq withdrawal timetable in Senate
Posted by Evan Derkacz on January 3, 2007 at 10:58 AM.

http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/07/01/20070103.html
Sen Russ Feingold (D-WI) has announced that he'll introduce legislation to establish a timetable for troop "redeployment," essentially an end-run around the baggage associated with "withdrawal" and a redirection from a moral and strategic regional issue to a more global, national security one:

"The American people sent a strong message in November to fix the administration's failed Iraq policy, the same message I have heard from Wisconsinites at my listening sessions," Feingold said. "So far, the administration has ignored that message and is considering sending more troops to Iraq - something that would run counter to our national security and the wishes of the American people. Congress can't afford to make the same mistake. We must redeploy our troops from Iraq so that we can focus on serious threats to our security - in Somalia, Afghanistan and elsewhere - that have only grown while this Administration has been distracted in Iraq."

Or, put more simply: "The way to win a war against global terrorist networks is not by keeping over 140,000 brave American troops in Iraq indefinitely..."

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#46235

[keta11]

1. Go Russ!!!! n/t

:toast:

[Tellurian]

43. And to prevent these traitorous Dems..

from upending Pelosi before we even get out of the gate!

Read here for who are the traitorous Dems..

Some Democrats could support Bush troop increase, NYT to report

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Some_Democrats_could_support_Bush_troop_0103.html

[truthisfreedom]

49. It's like herding cats. Someone needs to unify Democrats everywhere.

Someone great.

[Tellurian]

50. Agreed..

We could post a notice in the senate cloak room.

*************WANTED*************

SILVERADO SENATE WRANGLER VOLUNTEERS.

CATTLE PROD EXPERIENCED preferred.

WILL TRAIN enthusiasts FOR REWARDING EXPERIENCE!

[hashibabba]

61. I saw this on MSNBC this morning and was shocked! Will they

never learn? We can boot them out just as fast as we booted out the repukes. This is just unbelievable.

[bananarepublican]

67. "Bush sends more troops to the Confederacy!!!" ...

psst... George... the outcome has already been decided!

[Counciltucky]

2. Good! n/t

[Donnachaidh]

3. Go Russ Go!

I guess I'll be glued to Cspan until spring. :yourock: :popcorn:

[cali]

4. Great!

Go Russ, go. Even if this goes nowhere, it keeps the pressure on and the issue front and center.

[mopinko]

23. oh, so it's good for russ, but bad for cindy?

go russ, but shut up cindy sheehan, huh?

[Voltaire99]

48. That's right.

Cindy's not swelling any majority, hence has no value to party hearties.

Yet she's worth the entire lot of them.

[No Exit]

57. Oh, no--Feingold is distracting from our agenda!!!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

Gee, I hope Russ didn't say all this while RAHM "what's so bad about war" EMMANUEL was trying to speak about lobbying reform!:sarcasm:

GO RUSS!!!!

* No, I have NOTHING against our lobbying reform push, but death, destruction, maiming, and bankrupting the Treasury are of a higher priority!!

[xultar]

5. He's smart. You have to have a withdrawal plan before you pull funding.

[Lars39]

6. K&R !

[hippiechick]

7. Sigh. Russ steps up to the plate again.

:loveya:


:applause: I adore Senator Feingold. :applause:

[blm]

8. Good - Was hoping Reid would resubmit Kerry-Feingold withdrawal plan in new senate

Russ' bill is a good sign that a push IS ON.

[Mass]

9. He has been doing that for months now. The only question is to know

whether he will have more than then 13 people this resolution got in June. Will Reid and Levin get behind this resolution.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Russ we got yer back

and I am sure the troops will be happy too

[Beaverhausen]

11. kick

for those who missed it

[nini]

12. Sweet

He is awesome!!!

[dogday]

13. Russ is my guy, have stood behind him

since last year and will continue to support him... Way to go Russ....

[dogday]

18. Bring them home

Bring them all home...

[Beaverhausen]

14. another kick

this is a bit more important than the Cindy thread...IMHO.

[Sapere aude]

15. You can't win a war against global terrorists. The are not a country.

It should be more of an international police endeavor. All peace loving countries should share data and have a working relationship among their law enforcement such as our FBI and Interpol. They should all work together to find and prosecute global terrorists.

[coalition_unwilling]

21. Winning a war against terror is like winning a war against greed, imho

[crickets]

39. Agreed: global terrorists are not a country.

The best way to deal with the problem is through international cooperation and sharing of intelligence. Excellent points.

And way to go, Russ!

[IronLionZion]

56. But we CAN win a war against stateless Al Qaeda

obviously the "war on fear" is pointless and cannot be won. But Al Qaeda is our enemy. We need to fight Al Qaeda by any means necessary whether it's through police, port security, military operations, winning the hearts and minds of regular Middle Eastern folks, or whatever.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

16. Hopefully the election just past will garner more support of this

I realize many politicians bend with the direction of the wind, not that I like the fact. Finally the wind from the voters is blowing in a direction that is in opposition with the war in Iraq.

It's time to commit to bringing them home.

[Botany]

17. Time to go home.

[LuckyX]

19. He emailed me thanking him for

donations, even though he is not my rep and I mailed back "Cut the funding off for the war, that is what we voted for and donated our hard earned money for."

[Marie26]

20. What happens if it passes & Bush refuses to withdraw?

Really, what would happen?

[freebrew]

53. * still has enough money to fund the war...

until the end of his term. Cutting off funds for the Iraq war would be
a show of force, but will make little difference until * decides to end it.
Military funding would come from other projects that may not be deemed as important as
getting more US troops killed for oil, or for the vanity of the * administration.

While I hope the Dems do cut off the funds, it will be the next president that must deal with troop withdrawal, and be saddled with the term 'Loser' by the idiot greed party and their buddies. I just hope that the US citizens will see through the spin...

[itsmesgd]

22. way to go,,,,

hit them with the hard shit and force the chimp to veto each one of them. Then, we can nail him in the media.
Russ, introduce everything that we have been talking about within the first 100 hours and maybe the chimp will forget to veto a couple of them.
Now is not the time to play nice. Somebody has got to be the adult and do what needs to be done. F the repukes, don't let them play along. They did not let us play while they screwed everything up. Turn off their mikes and disconnect their phones. Shit, lock them out of the building.

[Nickster]

24. Who'll have the cajones to co-sponsor it with him? Or are they going to leave Russ hanging on a limb

by himself?

[blm]

32. Russ signed on to Kerry's withdrawal plan last spring so I'd guess at least 13 senators

who voted for that plan will likely support this one if it's anywhere similar. Maybe there will be even more this time, and a few GOPs to boot.

[malaise]

25. Kick! n/t

[Disturbed]

26. In the meanime Lou Dobbs keeps saying that

the Dems have no plan regarding Iraq. Murtha, Kerry, Kucinich, Levin and others have announced Plans. Dobbs merely ignores any plans that Dems bring forth.

[Beaverhausen]

28. Then let's let Dobbs know about this

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?7

[dogday]

27. Kicking for Russ and all he does..... nt

[Imagevision]

29. Feingold had it right trying to censure Bush, but, nooo, no-one would listen!!

[dogday]

31. Just a handful of Senators would back him

Wonder how many would back him now?

[ClassWarrior]

30. K&R

NGU.

[Journeyman]

33. Excellent. . .

n/t

[sybylla]

34. That's my senator

:loveya:

He's been at the forefront fighting to get our troops out of this hell hole we call Iraq. I'm glad to see he's not backing down one ounce.

[jazzjunkysue]

35. Uber K& Uber R. Gracias. Now, email your senators! www.senate.gov

I just did. :smile:

[nam78_two]

36. K&R.nt

[Beaverhausen]

37. Kicking again

See, it's not only Cindy who talks about getting out of Iraq

[Just-plain-Kathy]

38. Feingold for President!!

[flaminbats]

44. amen!!

Feingold would win my vote without a fight in 2008. A well known politician..who is both "electable" and "honest"!

A combination that comes once in a generation in our system, if your lucky ;)

[cascadiance]

54. I still wish he hadn't pulled out of running for pres. myself...

I hope we can get a man close to equaling his integrity and skills to run in his place (Al Gore?).

He noted when announcing he's not running that he had a lot of work he wanted to focus on in the Senate since they'd just won the Senate. I think his hard work on this bill, and the heavy load of work ahead of him "herding cats" as was well put above to get it passed shows why he's probably correct that he has to stay focused on this sort of work if he really wants to get things done and not get sidetracked with a presidential campaign. I still hope he can be the VP on someone's ticket in 2008!

I think what we really should push for is for him at some point to take over control of Senate Majority Leader, if Reid doesn't do enough himself to lead the Democratic Senate in the proper directions. Russ would really have earned that if he can get through stuff I suspect he has planned over the next year or so.

One thing that the Dems CAN do if Bush refuses to follow what is in this legislation. Say then that OFFICIALLY impeachment is back on the table and that investigations will proceed more in earnest! Perhaps that will get Bush to reconsider. One way or the other if that choice is presented to Bush, we win!

[Contrite]

45. My first choice

Ever since he called for censure.

Too bad he said he won't run. But what a Senator!

[LittleClarkie]

40. That's my Senator what did that.

Heh.

[bdamomma]

41. we must support Senator Feingold and let the phone ring off the hook

to voice our opinions and comments to our Senators and Representatives, show them we are not going to play by Bush's sick rules.

[proud patriot]

42. This is a good thing IMO

:-)

[midnight]

46. Today I was very happy, and the sun was out, and I had such

a great day. This news makes the end of my day perfect. A very grateful thank you to such a wise man.

[Voltaire99]

47. Breaking, part 2: Party elites to utterly ignore Russ

Sorry: no end of war for you, dumb voters.

[tomp]

52. sounds about right. nt

[sonias]

51. Good move Senator Feingold

Thank you!

Sonia

[dogday]

55. Kicking for Feingold and this bill...

[Faryn Balyncd]

58. Go, Russ, Go

Russ Feingold represents the soul of our party, and of our democracy.

[The Stranger]

59. Thank whatever gods may be for this man.

[me b zola]

60. Bring them home...NOW!

Thank you Senator Feingold. :patriot:

[Faryn Balyncd]

62. As Robert Parry points out, those who oppose Feingold as "too divisive".....

.....fail to realize that if we don't address the iraq War and reign in the Bush regime, the support of the public will be transient:

ROBERT PARRY:"Dems, We're Citizens, Not Consumers"


As the Democrats regain control of Congress for the first time in 12 years, the party leaders still don't seem to understand the forces that sent them into the wilderness in 1994 or the reasons they were summoned back in 2006......Typical of their cluelessness was a "100 Hours Survey" distributed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in mid-December. The survey asked Democratic contributors to rank nine priority issues in order of importance for the new Congress.....

No reference was made to ending the Iraq War, launching investigative hearings on President George W. Bush's actions, reasserting checks and balances on the Executive, or restoring constitutional safeguards that have been overridden during the "war on terror," such as the habeas corpus right to a fair trial.

Though many issues on the DCCC's priority list surely have merit, what's missing is any commitment to the larger purpose of the American Republic. ....... The Democratic leaders have yet to grasp that the transcendent principles of democracy were a major factor in the national rejection of Bush and the Republican congressional majority on Nov. 7.....

The Democratic leaders don't even seem capable of mounting a spirited fight against Bush's plan to escalate the Iraq War despite the clear will of the voters, the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, and the advice of Bush's own military commanders.......The Democrats just can't kick their old habit of treating Americans like consumers, rather than citizens.........If the congressional Democrats don't change their ways soon, they will have alienated not only much of their own base but many of the independents and traditional conservatives who hoped the Democrats could rise above their old-fashioned interest-group politics...... A promising opportunity for a new national unity - derived from the founding principles of the nation - will have been squandered.

We need to FOCUS on MORE than the DCCC's priority list..... We need to support Feingold and Murtha.

As Robert Parry pointed out, some Democratic "leaders" think that the lesson to be learned from the Republican self-destruction is to "avoid partisanship" and only address consensus issues.

As Parry points out, they've got the message exactly backwards. if we fail to get behind Feingold and Murtha, if we fail to address the BIG ISSUES, our majority will be as doomed as the Republicans.

[Vidar]

63. Way to go, Russ! Will the Dems back him or cower in their majority?

[keroro gunsou]

64. RWAR! good job!

and that's why i voted for him.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

65. do it for my nephew and everyone else's child/friend/family member

Thank God for this.

I was worried that we were going to be pacified with a
bunch of feel good bills.

I want us OUT of Iraq more than anything else.

We tried to talk my nephew out of enlisting, for 3 years now,
but he turned 21 and signed up with marines.

His father is a former marine, and so - there you go.
Combine that with a republican mother, and agh.

So please please get us out of Iraq NOW, deployment sounds
smart, its not the same as cutting funds to the troops, now is it.

Thanks Russ Feingold.

[Nutmegger]

66. And he's not a Presidential candidate?

I have a few favorites but I'd support and work for Feingold in a heartbeat.

The man with spine...thank you Russ Feingold.

[dogday]

68. I wished

He decided not to run in 08.. I so hoped he would....