From: Jim Fine
Re: Iraq: Ending the War
Date: January 8, 2008
The Bush administration’s decision a year ago to increase the number of U.S. military troops to Iraq to nearly 170,000 and escalate war spending to nearly $4 billion a week has been followed by an at least temporary decline in violent attacks. The drop in violence since last August has pushed Iraq out of the headlines, and led to new assertions that U.S. policy in Iraq is working.
But the U.S. military strategy has not promoted in promoting the kind of effective political reconciliation essential to any lasting peace in Iraq. Nonetheless the White House has announced plans to sustain this military strategy by negotiating an agreement to provide long-term military bases in Iraq that would lock the next president into an indefinite U.S. military presence there.
Change is coming in Iraq and the region. But it will not come through the barrel of a gun. The temporary decline in violence in Iraq has at least as much to do with the new focus by some in the Bush administration on supporting diplomacy with Iraq’s neighbors. General David Petraeus has acknowledged the role that Syrian and Iranian cooperation has played in reducing the violence in Iraq. Still, others in the White House and some in Congress continue to argue for an exclusively strategy in Iraq.
We at FCNL have long argued (PDF) that the U.S. needs a comprehensive strategy that includes a U.S. commitment to a date certain for withdrawal from Iraq coupled with a new, bipartisan policy based on internal reconciliation in Iraq, and regional negotiations with all of Iraq's neighbors.
We at FCNL have always believed that the combination of events in Iraq, congressional action, public education, protests, and public witness will be needed to end the U.S. war and military occupation of Iraq.
Working to End the War in an Election Year
So what do we do in an election year?
Work around the country: Talk with your friends, family, and others in your community about the failure of the U.S. war strategy in Iraq. The U.S. military strategy is not building long-term solutions to Iraq's problems, but U.S. spending on the war has reached nearly $4 billion a month, and the death toll for U.S. troops is approaching 4,000 (to say nothing of the death toll for Iraqis). Tell your members of Congress to end funding for the Iraq war and occupation.
Make peace an election-year issue: FCNL does not engage in electoral politics, and we neither support nor oppose individual candidates. However, we can and do make our concerns known to candidates and to the public during election years. The 2008 elections present the perfect opportunity to let all candidates know that peace is an issue in this election. Remind the candidates that although Iraq isn’t on the front page every day now, you and others in your community believe the United States needs a new, bipartisan political strategy in Iraq. Put up a War is Not the Answer sign to let all candidates know that you want them to end the war, and ask pointed questions of the candidates and their supporters.
Continue to work with Congress: Given the votes in 2007 and the increasingly partisan nature of Congress, winning bipartisan support for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2008 seems very unlikely. But you can help build support for a new, bipartisan policy based on internal reconciliation in Iraq, regional negotiations with all of Iraq's neighbors, and U.S. commitment to a date certain for withdrawal.
A first step that Congress could take now would be to approve the bipartisan, New Diplomatic Offensive for Iraq Act (H.R. 3797) which would require the administration to step up diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict in Iraq and the region and report regularly reporting to Congress. Your letters and emails have already helped double the number of cosponsors for this legislation. But FCNL lobbyists calculate that more cosponsors are still needed to move this bill to the House floor.
By approving this legislation in 2008, Congress will strengthen the hand of the people in the Bush administration arguing for diplomatic negotiations with Iraq’s neighbors and internal reconciliation. This legislation is also a first step in building bipartisan support for a long-term U.S. political strategy in the region that would lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Please check this webpage often for more updates.