11/17/06 Pressure Congress For Immediate End To Iraq War
Pressure Congress For Immediate End To Iraq War
The Capital TimesFriday, November 17, 2006
Joy First Monona
Dear Editor: We need to keep putting pressure on Congress to end the illegal and immoral war and occupation in Iraq. Even though the Democrats now have control of both houses of Congress, it is important that we don't sit back and assume they are going to end the war.
If there is anything we have learned in the last several years, it should be that this is our government, and we, the people, must make sure that our representatives are really representing us.
On Nov. 9, The Capital Times printed an article headlined "Feingold, Kohl push for troop withdrawal." Reading the headline might give one hope that Congress is ready to take control and end the war. However, in looking more closely at the article, I see that Sen. Herb Kohl is still not taking a strong stand to end the war. The article states that he still supports the Levin proposal, which calls on the Bush administration to bring the troops home. We all know that Bush is not going to bring the troops home.
We cannot sit and wait and hope that our senators and representatives do something while people continue to die every day in this unjust war. Our representatives in Congress can and should be doing more.
We must demand that Congress do everything it can to end the war. One way is to cut off the funding. It is expected that sometime between February and April, Congress will be voting on more than $160 billion in supplemental funding for the war. Even Sen. Russ Feingold, who has supported legislation to bring the troops home, consistently votes for funding the war. Please call and/or write to Kohl and Feingold, demanding that they cut off funding for the war and bring the troops home.
Call our House members from Wisconsin, especially David Obey, who will now become chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Call them every day or every week. We need to stop funding the slaughter of innocent Iraqis and start using that money to solve problems here at home.
I also believe that, after years of terror sponsored by the U.S. government, we are responsible for financially supporting reparations in Iraq and supporting an Iraqi-led peace process.
Every day that the war continues innocent people are killed. I am not naive enough to believe that the killing will stop as soon as the U.S. military leaves Iraq. But we need to support and focus on an Iraqi-led peace process, stop the immoral killing of innocent people, and regain respect as a country that works for peace and justice for all.
Please continue to pressure Congress until it ends the war and occupation of Iraq.