I just recieved an email from Senator Kerry about his 20,000 Troops Home For the Holidays petition.
Text of E-Mail
We can’t depend on George W. Bush finally seeing the light. And we surely can’t rely on Dick Cheney finally telling the truth. We can’t even count on Karl Rove seeing big Democratic victories in the 2005 elections as a sign that Americans want a clear strategy in Iraq, not just more slash and burn Republican staged events that aim to mislead.
We’ve got to count on intense grassroots pressure forcing Republicans in the House and Senate to force this White House to face reality.
That pressure ratcheted up yesterday when Republican candidates who aligned themselves with Bush fell to defeat in Virginia and New Jersey. Bush’s last-minute personal campaigning in Virginia sealed the Republican candidate’s defeat.
The bottom line: It’s becoming harder and harder for the Republican Party to defend Bush’s failures.
And no Bush failure is doing more damage than the President’s stubborn clinging to self defeating “stay as long as it takes” rhetoric in Iraq.
That’s why, in just a few days’ time, nearly 200,000 people have signed on to support our demand that the President present a clear and concrete plan for Iraq. We’re starting with a call for the withdrawal of 20,000 American troops over the holidays, linked to the successful completion of December elections in Iraq — sending a signal to Iraqis that Iraq belongs to them. And we’re pressing the Bush Administration to get it right with a new strategy that will bring the vast majority of our combat troops home by the end of 2006.
If you haven’t signed yet, it’s critical that you do so now:
Withdraw 20,000 troops over the holidays
Our goal is to collect 400,000 signatures before Thanksgiving. That’s 20,000 Americans stepping forward each day for 20 consecutive days in support of our “20,000 troops home over the holidays” drive.
It’s the vitally important first step in our call for a concrete plan that will produce genuine progress in Iraq and bring home the vast majority of our brave fighting men and women by the end of next year.
We can no longer let Republican politicians get away with providing political cover for George W. Bush’s multiple failures on Iraq. We can’t let them explain away policies that keep failing . . . scandals that keep deepening . . . principles that keep getting trampled on . . . and the urgent needs of America’s families that keep getting ignored.
Your signature right now can really help.
Withdraw 20,000 troops over the holidays
Tomorrow I will be speaking out again and offering a resolution on the floor of the Senate to commit to the needed steps this White House refuses to take — a plan for Iraq.
In less than a week, we’ll be launching the next critical step in our “20,000 troops home over the holidays” campaign. We’ll be placing impossible-to-ignore billboards in the home districts of Republican leaders across the country.
The message on the billboards will be “Withdraw 20,000 troops over the holidays.”
The message behind the billboards will be even clearer: “In 2006, no Republican candidate will get away with putting his or her loyalty to George W. Bush ahead of what’s right for our troops and our country.”
Republicans have let the Bush Administration make one mind-boggling mistake after another in Iraq with hardly a word of protest.
As investigations and indictments mount, they pretend they can’t see the corruption. As the bullying tactics of the extreme right wing dictate the Republican agenda, they pretend they can’t see the danger.
And, as a White House hamstrung by a dizzying array of failed policies, botched decisions, and corrupt practices reels out of control, they pretend they can’t see their own responsibility to act.
If they’re not willing to lead, they need to get out of the way. We’ve got to get them out of the way so that we can roll up our sleeves and move America forward again. That’s what the most critical legislative and electoral contests of the next twelve months are going to be all about. We’re going to get “do nothing to offend the President” Republicans out of the way, so that we can move America in the right direction again.
Let’s push hard — and let’s promise each other to not stop pushing until we have put our America back on track.
Sincerely,
John Kerry
P.S. Friday, President Bush will deliver another defense of his irresponsible “stay as long as it takes” approach to Iraq. But, more and more Americans are rallying to our call for forward movement in Iraq and the withdrawal of the vast majority of our troops by the end of next year.
Text of Petition
America can no longer tolerate the Bush administration’s failed “stay as long as it takes” approach to the war in Iraq. It is time for Congress to demand and for George W. Bush to deliver a clear, concrete plan.
As a first critical step in that direction, I am calling on the Bush administration to respond to the completion of December elections in Iraq by withdrawing 20,000 troops over the holidays.
The way forward in Iraq is not to pull out precipitously or merely promise to “stay as long as it takes.” To undermine the insurgency, we have to simultaneously pursue both a political settlement and the withdrawal of American combat forces linked to specific, responsible benchmarks.
The draw down of troops should be tied not to an arbitrary timetable, but to a specific timetable for transfer of political and security responsibility to Iraqis and realignment of our troop deployment. That timetable must be real and strict. The goal should be to withdraw the bulk of American combat forces by the end of 2006.
If George W. Bush refuses to produce a concrete plan for Iraq, then, at the start of 2006, we will demand that Congress acts to take the decision out of his hands. And, if the Republican Congress fails to call the Bush administration to account, we will use the 2006 elections to take the decision out of their hands. We won’t stop until we succeed.
End Petition Text
You can sign the petition with the link aboveor here.