01/13/07: Don't let Bush use "surge" to shift debate away from need to bring troops home
Madison Capital Times
Jan. 13, 2007
Dear Editor: Whatever its lack of merit as a military strategy, it’s now clear that Bush’s proposed ‘surge’ of troops into Iraq is an absolutely brilliant political strategy. Just look at how Bush has been able to shift the terms of debate so that Congress, instead of debating how quickly to withdraw troops from Iraq, is now debating whether or not to send more troops to Iraq.
And look at your own editorial, “Saying 'no' to the surge” (1/10/07) which praises Senator Ted Kennedy for a bill that would “prohibit the use of funds for an escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq above the numbers existing as of Jan. 9, 2007.”
Enshrining the level of U.S. forces “existing as of Jan. 9 2007” in law is not an anti-war position. It is an endorsement of the status quo.
If Senator Kennedy and other Congressional Democrats were serious about ending the war, they would be challenging President Bush’s $100 billion war-funding request, to be submitted to Congress in February. They would reject this gargantuan bill and write their own, at vastly reduced cost, tied to a quick-withdrawal timetable.
If they don’t, they lose their only means of restraining President Bush, and relegate themselves to the role of bystanders.
We can all play a part in pressuring the new Democratic Congress to make the right decision. On January 27, hundreds of thousands of Americans will be converging on Washington to remind our elected officials what the November 7 election was really about. Buses to D.C. from Madison other Wisconsin cities are now filling up.
Wisconsin citizens will also be bringing pressure to their representatives here at home, meeting with Representatives and staff in their Wisconsin offices, and speaking out at Senator Feingold’s “listening sessions” and other public events. To get involved in these local efforts or to reserve a place on the bus to D.C. , call the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice at (608) 250-9240.
Steve Burns
Program Coordinator
Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice