No, there hasn’t been a tidal wave of Dem voices, but there are some important Democrats who are demanding we leave Iraq. John Murtha was the first, and still the most frequently outspoken Democratic politician to call for a withdrawal from Iraq, but lately he has been joined by another prominent Democrat in the Senate: John Kerry.
I know many of us have been critical of Mr. Kerry for failing to make leaving Iraq the centerpiece of his campaign in 2004 (I know I was), but lately he has begun to call bullshit on our entire policy in Iraq, and for that I salute him. Many of you have no doubt heard of his demand that we pull our troops out of Iraq within a year at the latest, but perhaps you haven’t read yet the speech he gave at Faneuil Hall in Boston last week.
Well, you should (excerpts below):
. . . I have come here today to reaffirm that it was right to dissent in 1971 from a war that was wrong. And to affirm that it is both a right and an obligation for Americans today to disagree with a President who is wrong, a policy that is wrong, and a war in Iraq that weakens the nation.
I believed then, just as I believe now, that the best way to support the troops is to oppose a course that squanders their lives, dishonors their sacrifice, and disserves our people and our principles. When brave patriots suffer and die on the altar of stubborn pride, because of the incompetence and self-deception of mere politicians, then the only patriotic choice is to reclaim the moral authority misused by those entrusted with high office.
I believed then, just as I believe now, that it is profoundly wrong to think that fighting for your country overseas and fighting for your country’s ideals at home are contradictory or even separate duties. They are, in fact, two sides of the very same patriotic coin. . . .
Dissenters are not always right, but it is always a warning sign when they are accused of unpatriotic sentiments by politicians seeking a safe harbor from debate, from accountability, or from the simple truth.
Truth is the American bottom line. Truth above all is fundamental to who we are. It is no accident that among the first words of the first declaration of our national existence it is proclaimed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”.
[snip]
The War in Vietnam and the War in Iraq are now converging in too many tragic respects.
As in Vietnam, we engaged militarily in Iraq based on official deception.
As in Vietnam, we went into Iraq ostensibly to fight a larger global war under the misperception that the particular theater was just a sideshow, but we soon learned that the particular aspects of the place where we fought mattered more than anything else.
And as in Vietnam, we have stayed and fought and died even though it is time for us to go.
[snip]
So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet.
Iraqi politicians should be told that they have until May 15 to deal with these intransigent issues and at last put together an effective unity government or we will immediately withdraw our military. If Iraqis aren’t willing to build a unity government in the five months since the election, they’re probably not willing to build one at all. The civil war will only get worse, and we will have no choice anyway but to leave.
If Iraq’s leaders succeed in putting together a government, then we must agree on another deadline: a schedule for withdrawing American combat forces by year’s end. Doing so will actually empower the new Iraqi leadership, put Iraqis in the position of running their own country and undermine support for the insurgency, which is fueled in large measure by the majority of Iraqis who want us to leave their country.
In addition to these prominent voices are the members of the Out of Iraq Caucus in the House of Represenatatives who also deserve credit for their brave and patriotic stance in demanding an end to our occupation of Iraq:
Rep. Maxine Waters, Chair, Co-Founder;
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Co-Founder;
Rep. John Conyers, Co-Founder;
Rep. Charlie Rangel, Co-Founder;
Rep. Barbara Lee, Co-Founder;
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Co-Founder;
Rep. William Delahunt, Co-Founder;
Rep. John Lewis, Co-Founder;
Rep. Neil Abercrombie;
Rep. Tammy Baldwin;
Rep. Xavier Becerra;
Rep. Corrine Brown;
Rep. Sherrod Brown;
Rep. Lois Capps;
Rep. Michael Capuano;
Rep. Julia Carson;
Rep. Donna Christensen;
Rep. William Lacy Clay;
Rep. Elijah Cummings;
Rep. Danny Davis;
Rep. Peter DeFazio;
Rep. Lloyd Doggett;
Rep. Lane Evans;
Rep. Sam Farr;
Rep. Chaka Fattah;
Rep. Bob Filner;
Rep. Barney Frank;
Rep. Raul Grijalva;
Rep. Luis Gutierrez;
Rep. Maurice Hinchey;
Rep. Rush Holt;
Rep. Michael Honda;
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee;
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones;
Rep. Marcy Kaptur;
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick;
Rep. Dennis Kucinich;
Rep. John Larson;
Rep. Stephen Lynch;
Rep. Jim McDermott;
Rep. James McGovern;
Rep. Cynthia McKinney;
Rep. Michael McNulty;
Rep. Carolyn Maloney;
Rep. Edward Markey;
Rep. Marty Meehan;
Rep. George Miller;
Rep. Gwen Moore;
Rep. Jim Moran;
Rep. Grace Napolitano;
Rep. Richard Neal;
Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton;
Rep. James Oberstar;
Rep. John Olver;
Rep. Major Owens;
Rep. Frank Pallone;
Rep. Donald Payne;
Rep. Nick Rahall;
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard;
Rep. Bobby Rush;
Rep. Linda Sanchez;
Rep. Bobby Scott;
Rep. Jose Serrano;
Rep. Hilda Solis;
Rep. Pete Stark;
Rep. Bennie Thompson;
Rep. John Tierney;
Rep. Ed Towns;
Rep. Nydia Velázquez;
Rep. Diane Watson;
Rep. Albert Wynn
All of these politicians deserve our support and our pledge to work for their re-election this Fall. They get it, even if some of the Democratic leadership (Pelosi, Clinton, Schumer, Reid, to name but a few) do not. It is time for us to leave Iraq, and these Democrats are the vangiard for the movement to put an end to George Bush’s dangerous fantasies regarding the Middle East.
Kerry?
More evidence that we are winning.
He’s a frontrunner. Always marries the most profitable issue, so to speak.
Soon…Lieberman and Biden.
When the rats jump ONTO the ship…THAT’S when you have to be careful!!!
AG
Maybe you are right about Kerry (though I don’t see anyone else iun the Seanate following his lead), but at least give the members of the Out of Iraq Caucus some love Arthur, as they formed last year.
You make a good point, and writing a form letter expressing appreciation and then modifying it slightly for each one sounds like an excellent project for this week. By the time I get through I’ll probably be glad there aren’t more.
people. Maurice Hinchey is terrific.
Can’t work up any enthusiasm for Kerry though. Coming from him this seems a lot like political calculation – middle-of-the-road didn’t work so let’s move left. On the other hand, he appears now to be going beyond saying we should set a deadline for getting out and saying that we made a mistake going in.
Gore and Feingold look better to me at the moment.
Hillary Clinton has totally dropped off my radar screen – I’d sooner vote for an Arnie Vinick type Republican.
I am severely pissed off at several of my relatives who borrow money from my grandmother every month to make ends meet even though they have higher incomes than she does. I understand having to do something like that occasionally in an emergency, that’s what family is for among other things, but this has been going on regularly for the better part of a decade and they still refuse to recognize the obvious and lower their expenditures like they should.
That’s roughly how I feel about Democrats and Iraq. It was obvious several years ago that our misadventure was going to end up as a dismal failure, yet there are still many Dems, probably still a majority, who refuse to take a stand on getting out. It’s nice to see a growing list of Reps who are now against continued involvement, but this should have been a near-unanimous party position a long time ago.
This is what makes me most mad about the Democratic party, so many members still stand with a unanimous Republican party on issues against the will of most Americans. If they refused to represent my view on political grounds at least I could understand, but in this case and others they are actively failing to capitalize on a major political issue in the process of being wrong, which boggles the mind.
I be3lieve we need to fundamentally change our political system, beginning with the way campaigns are financed. Untiol then, the Democrats will always be trolling for the GOP’s big business leavings.
That said, I wanted to focus on something positive about the party for a change. There are principled politicians in the Dems and we do need to support those who stick their head up out of their shells.
I am at the head of the line of people who believe in publicly-financed elections, I grew up thinking the Legion of Super-Heroes version was ideal (short period before the election where debates and commercials dominate the airwaves, otherwise no campaigning at all).
I am in favor of focusing on positives whenever possible, I just wish there was more to focus on. Most of the stories I see that are positive for Dems are about failures for Bush, which isn’t the same thing. Tearing him down is extremely important for the future of the world, he seems to have a fascination with nuclear weapons and destroying the environment, but I don’t see many signs that whatever rises in his place is going to be much better.
At this point in time I will take whatever we can get to end this illegal occupation of Iraq based on lies. The more voices, the more speaking out, the more dissent brings us another day closer to bringing our kids home where they belong. Nice write up Steven.
Kerry, and the rest of the Democratic Party apparatus are making yet another terminal error in their foreign policy platform. The underlying issue giving rise to the invasion of Iraq was the now-debunked “war on terror”. I’d feel much better if they began the conversation with “where in the world is OBL?”
Kerry’s “deadline” rhetoric is disengenuous at best, given that the Iraqis themselves have had control over the “mandate for the multi-national force” since Feb 05 by law. Further, the government deadline for a decision (UNSCR 1637) is June 15 this year, and the “mandate” expires on 31 Dec. So he advocates moving their decision up one month? Brilliant.
The Iraqis will call the ball. Not John Kerry, nor Dean, nor any other pundit, prognosticator, or politician in D.C. The Democrats would be well-advised to acknowledge that fact.
To be precise, Murtha has never called for a withdrawal, but for a redeployment. There is a world of difference. His name isn’t even on the Out of Iraq caucus list. While redeployment would reduce American casualties, it’s unlikely to make much of a difference for ordinary Iraqis. They could still expect airplanes & helicopters to deliver deadly loads. Most Democrats & peace activists are not united on this.
Talk of “leaving” is a charade as we build 4 huge military bases & a fortified castle, errr, embassy.
Don’t enable the enablers.
John Kerry makes a strong and articulate statement, and goes it alone on a definite policy and plan. John Murtha stakes his reputation on a stand opposing the president, loses friends and gets insulted, and is still almost a lone voice.
And they get carping and suspicion and nothing they do can possibly be good enough. I can see reservations and examining the nuances. But I can also see why Democrats are going to have a very hard time recapturing Congress. They don’t stand for anything because anybody who does, becomes a target. So Independents and wobbly R’s won’t vote for them because they don’t stand for anything, and progressive Democrats are too busy with their reservations and nuances to show up.