February 14, 2006
SUBJECT: Iraq spending should be conditional on commitment to responsibility to withdraw.
Dear Senator/Representative,
As Congress considers the President’s request for tens of billions in additional funding to prosecute the intractable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we urge you to condition any new funding on the U.S. clearly declaring that all U.S. military forces and bases will be withdrawn from Iraq and initiating steps for a withdrawal this year. U.S. military forces must leave Iraq, because the majority of Iraqis now perceive them as the enemy and not a liberating partner, but the U.S. must not abandon the people of Iraq. Therefore, we call on Congress to redirect funds from war fighting and occupation to multilateral and Iraqi civil agencies for reconstruction and stabilization.
The cost of the administration’s “long war” have reached new heights in Iraq, not only in the financial burden to the U.S. public but also in the lives lost, the chaos in Iraq, fractured international relations, national and global economic damage, and an escalation of anti-U.S. sentiment in the Middle East and worldwide.
As you know, Congress has already appropriated $320 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This month, the President announced that he will seek $70 billion in “emergency supplemental" spending to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in this fiscal year. In addition, the 2007 budget request asks for another $50 billion for those wars next fiscal year with additional requests expected.
These new requests come almost three years after the U.S. launched its “preemptive” (sic) military invasion of Iraq, an invasion which has claimed the lives of over 2,260 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. No military solution to the conflict in Iraq will result in a sustainable transition to peace. Rather, as many current and former U.S. military leaders now acknowledge, peace in Iraq will be achieved through political engagement and diplomacy.
By invading and occupying Iraq, the U.S. has accrued a legal and moral responsibility to provide long-term financial assistance for rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure and basic services.
Lasting security in Iraq depends on Iraqis rebuilding their nation themselves from the bottom up. U.S. support, through mediating international agencies, will be essential for community-based economic development, a return of living-wage jobs, and restoration of basic services, including electricity, water, and sewage treatment. These – not smart bombs and bullets – are the essential building blocks for peace in Iraq.
The choice for Congress and the public is not between “victory” or “defeat”. The choice is whether to accelerate the downward spiral of violence or to cease fire and rebuild the country. Given its mistake in authorizing the use of force in Iraq, Congress has a solemn responsibility to turn President Bush from his choice of the downward spiral of violence and redirect him to a pathway for a sustainable peace. Conditioning any further funding on the U.S. clearly declaring its intention to leave Iraq, on initiating steps for the withdrawal of all its troops and bases from Iraq, and on providing financial support for Iraqi-led reconstruction would be a responsible next step out of this quagmire.
Without these policy changes, a vote for new funding will be a vote for the continuation of a failing and dangerous policy. Billions more dollars will be wasted, thousands more lives will be put at risk, and the region will be further destabilized. Congress should not compound the mistakes of the past three years by staying on the wrong course. Only Congress can steer the U.S. away from the precipes of a “long war” in the Middle East. The time to correct course is now.
Sincerely,
Joe Volk
Executive Secretary
