Three Years, Thousands of Lives Lost

It's Time for Congress to Have an Honest Debate on Iraq

America has spent three years, $250 billion in tax money¹ and the lives of 2,309 U.S. soldiers² in Iraq. Nearly three-quarters of the country now feels like this war is not worth it.³ It’s time for Congress to talk about alternatives, and we have a chance for that to happen.

Members of Congress from both parties have joined a move to have a real debate on the floor of the House of Representatives on what our country should be doing in Iraq. All of our representatives should sign on to this effort, and TrueMajority members will be pressing them to: by telephone, e-mail and in person.

http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/iraqdebate

More than 30,000 TrueMajority members have already signed the petition. Our goal is to double that number this week—then we’ll help members deliver the signed petitions to representatives while they’re home visiting their districts.

The administration wants us to see only two options in Iraq: either "stay the course"—pouring more money and blood into the sand with no end in sight; or "cut and run"—abandoning Iraqis to pick up the pieces while U.S. troops retreat. That’s just another trick to divide Americans into opposing sides, though. Most of us actually want to take an honest look at the real range of options for ending this quagmire.

Should we set a schedule for withdrawing troops? Should we commit to not building bases for a permanent occupation? Whatever your preference, surely you’ll agree that in a democracy our representatives should at least discuss the options.

The mechanism for bringing about this debate is House Resolution 543, which is itself a petition to force debate on a proposal introduced last year to set a timetable for Iraq withdrawal. The important thing is that part of the debate would include an open discussion of any options for actions in Iraq that members of Congress are willing to propose. The parliamentary procedure is complicated, but the result is simple: Our representatives would be able to talk about U.S. policy in Iraq.

Is there anything more important?

Tell your representative to support the open debate on Iraq.