Three Years, Thousands of Lives Lost - It's Time for Congress.ACTIONALERTY

[helderheid]

Three Years, Thousands of Lives Lost
It's Time for Congress to Have an Honest Debate on Iraq

America has spent three years, $250 billion in tax money1 and the lives of 2,309 U.S. soldiers2 in Iraq. Nearly three-quarters of the country now feels like this war is not worth it.3 It’s time for Congress to talk about alternatives, and we have a chance for that to happen.

Members of Congress from both parties have joined a move to have a real debate on the floor of the House of Representatives on what our country should be doing in Iraq. All of our representatives should sign on to this effort, and TrueMajority members will be pressing them to: by telephone, e-mail and in person.



http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/iraqdebate

More than 30,000 TrueMajority members have already signed the petition. Our goal is to double that number this week—then we’ll help members deliver the signed petitions to representatives while they’re home visiting their districts.

The administration wants us to see only two options in Iraq: either "stay the course"—pouring more money and blood into the sand with no end in sight; or "cut and run"—abandoning Iraqis to pick up the pieces while U.S. troops retreat. That’s just another trick to divide Americans into opposing sides, though. Most of us actually want to take an honest look at the real range of options for ending this quagmire.

Should we set a schedule for withdrawing troops? Should we commit to not building bases for a permanent occupation? Whatever your preference, surely you’ll agree that in a democracy our representatives should at least discuss the options.

The mechanism for bringing about this debate is House Resolution 543, which is itself a petition to force debate on a proposal introduced last year to set a timetable for Iraq withdrawal. The important thing is that part of the debate would include an open discussion of any options for actions in Iraq that members of Congress are willing to propose. The parliamentary procedure is complicated, but the result is simple: Our representatives would be able to talk about U.S. policy in Iraq.

Is there anything more important?

Tell your representative to support the open debate on Iraq.

Click the link to sign the petition (text below), and we’ll be back in touch with more ways to let your representative know you want an honest debate on Iraq.

http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/iraqdebate

Thanks for continuing this work,

Matt Holland
TrueMajority Online Director


References:

1 The Cost of War.

2 U.S. troop deaths in Iraq.

3 Declining support for the the war.


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Here’s the text of the petition:

Dear Representative,

After three years of spending American lives and tax money in the desert, it’s time for an honest, open discussion about our options in Iraq. Our representatives in Congress must engage in debate on this critical public policy.

House Resolution 543 is a discharge petition calling for a debate on Rep. Abercrombie and Rep. Jones’s Iraq proposal (House Joint Resolution 55). But more importantly, bringing that discussion to the floor would allow for an "open rule" debate on other proposals for changing our policy in Iraq.

We sorely need to have an open debate on our options toward Iraq. I urge you to sign the discharge petition to bring House Joint Resolution 55 up to the entire House of Representatives. I hope you’ll take an active role in considering what policy is best for America.

Sincerely,

(We’ll put your name here)


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[RufusEarl]

1. Done, didn't hurt a bit!

[helderheid]

2. Thanks so much!

[helderheid]

3. kicketyalerty!