Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Get Out of Afghanistan

Here's the text of a resolution Congressman Dennis Kucinich will introduce into the House of Representatives tomorrow:

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers
Resolution, to remove the United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan.
  Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
  SECTION 1. REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM AFGHANISTAN.
  Pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C.
1544(c)), Congress directs the President to remove the United States
Armed Forces from Afghanistan—
  (1) by no later than the end of the period of 30 days beginning on
the day on which this concurrent resolution is adopted; or
  (2) if the President determines that it is not safe to remove the
United States Armed Forces before the end of that period, by no later
than December 31, 2010, or such earlier date as the President
determines that the Armed Forces can safely be removed.

This resolution will have to be debated in the House within the next week. Contact your rep and ask them to co-sponsor this resolution.

Although the resolution will probably fail--and even if it passed, it would still have to get past the Senate and the president--it will have the virtue of putting representatives on the record about their opposition to the war. And it will be especially difficult for progressives to vote to fund the accursed thing (to the tune of $33 billion) next month if they support this resolution, which of course they must. We're borrowing every last penny of this money to prosecute this conflict which has no discernible end state, no withdrawal plan, and, dare I say it, not a snowball's chance in hell of being "won." Hell, the leadership cannot even define what winning the war would be. It's beyond scandalous that we're committing such sums to war when we've got so much suffering happening right here at home. It's downright criminal.

This miserable war in Afghanistan has now claimed over 1,000 American lives and God knows only how many Afghani lives, and it is now the second longest war in U.S. history. It must end.

Source: Afterdowningstreet.org

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