THIS WEEK IN IRAQ
February 9, 2007
Below are links to articles published this week at http://www.DemocracyRising.US/
IT ONLY TAKES 41 SENATE VOTES TO END THE WAR. REPUBLICANS SHOW THE WAY
Written by John Walsh
We hear over and over again that it "takes 60 votes to get something serious done in the Senate." That is a lot of malarkey. It takes only one senator to begin a filibuster against any bill. And then it takes only 41 votes to uphold that filibuster and prevent any proposed law from coming to the floor. Thus, the present authorization for defense funding in the coming fiscal year can be stopped cold if it contains funds for the war on Iraq. http://democracyrising.us/content/view/772/164/
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CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS SAYS END THE WAR IN 6 MONTHS
U.S. Representatives Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) which now has 71 members, issued a call for binding votes and bringing all U.S. troops and military contractors in Iraq home in a 6-month time frame as part of a fully-funded redeployment plan.
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/771/165/
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CONGRESS: TREAT IRAN WAR LIKE CONTRAS WAR
Written by Phyllis Bennis
In 1982, angered by a White House secretly escalating an unpopular war in Central America, the House passed the Boland Amendment, a rider to the Defense Appropriations Act of 1983. The amendment was crafted by Massachusetts Congressman Edward Boland, and was designed to cut off funds the CIA and other intelligence agencies were using to carry out sabotage attacks in Nicaragua and to support the anti-government Contra guerrillas. The Senate had a Republican majority at the time, but even members of President Reagan's own party were outraged when he launched his Contra-backing warfare without even notifying Congressional oversight committees.
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/770/164/
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POLL OF U.S. SENATE SHOWS MAJORITY OPPOSE ESCALATION, MANY REGRET VOTE FOR WAR
Written by David Swanson
100 Senators Quietly Vote: Majority Oppose Escalation
This MyDD blog entry and this Politico article describe this PDF showing the results of a poll of all 100 U.S. Senators. It asks how they voted on the war in 2002, whether they regret that vote, whether they support escalating the war, and whether they support ending the war by a certain date. This fairly well cuts through the courageous debate over whether to have a debate over whether to meaninglessly dissent from Bush's escalation plans for a war that most Americans want ended.
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/769/164/
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/2/6/172440/4095
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2639.html
http://www.politico.com/pdf/070205_iraqvote.pdf
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TWENTY STATES INTRODUCE RESOLUTIONS AGAINST IRAQ ESCALATION
Written by Progressive States Network
The Progressive States Network announced today that over 20 state legislatures so far have introduced resolutions opposing the President's proposed escalation in Iraq. This ongoing effort, which has included resolutions and subsequent high profile legislative hearings in state capitols, is part of a campaign organized by the Progressive States Network that began two weeks ago with a conference call with state legislators and national leaders. On the call Senator Ted Kennedy highlighted the importance of states’ input on the President’s proposed deployment of 20,000 more troops.
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/768/164/
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WAR OPPONENTS OCCUPY CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES
Written by Mike Ferner
From Alaska to Washington, D.C. yesterday, peace activists escalated their tactics and occupied Congressional offices, demanding elected officials vote against George Bush’s request of $93,000,000,000 to extend the war.
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/767/164/
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ANALYSIS OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2008 PENTAGON SPENDING REQUEST
Written by Christopher Hellman
The Bush Administration is requesting $484.1 billion for the Department of Defense in Fiscal Year 2008, which begins on October 1, 2007. This is $49 billion more than the current level of $432.4 billion, an increase of 11.3 percent, and inflation-adjust (“real”) increase of 8.6 percent. This figure does not include funding for the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy, which is considered part of total Defense Department spending. Nor does this figure include the costs of ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/766/164/
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U.S. SENDING NON-COMBAT READY TROOPS TO IRAQ, WITH INSUFFICIENT EQUIPMENT
“No Unit is Completely Combat Ready” says Former Assistant Secretary of Defense
Excerpts from San Francisco Chronicle Report
As the Pentagon prepares to boost troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 people, such logistical and training hurdles are emblematic of the struggles besieging a military strained by unexpectedly long and grueling commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It's happening just about to all the units now," said Lawrence Korb, who oversaw military manpower and logistics as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. "No unit is completely combat ready."
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/763/164/
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HOW TO REVIVE A SPIRITUALLY DEAD AMERICA IN ONE EASY LESSON!
Written by William Hughes
“Live by the truth... It is the only [choice] for a soul.” - Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1)
On Feb. 2, 2007, the deaths of six more U.S. troops in Iraq were reported, bringing the total dead in that illegal war to 3,092. This is the same conflict, hatched by the scheming Neocons, that is costing the nation $8.4 billion a month, with some economists putting the total financial impact now at around $2 trillion. (2) Also, the Corps of Army Engineers, on Feb. 2nd, warned that 122 levees around the country were at “risk of failing.” In other words, another “Katrina-like” disaster is looming around the corner. In the city of my birth, Baltimore, Maryland, there were over 300 homicides last year, and already in 2007, 29 people have been gunned down on its streets. On top of all that, experts say that climate change is “unequivocal,” that its cause is likely “man-made,” and that it will “continue for centuries” to come. (3)
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/760/164/
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Carol Kramer
301/891-7700 540/220-1384
The Democracy Rising peace project seeks to bring the troops home and end the occupation of Iraq.
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Democracy Rising
DemocracyRising.US
P.O. Box 18485
Washington, DC 20036
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