Fwd: Democratic Party and War Funding

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Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Democratic Party and War Funding

JOHN STAUBER, SHELDON RAMPTON, john@prwatch.org, http://
www.prwatch.org/node/5865
Stauber and Rampton co-wrote the recent article "Why Won't MoveOn
Move Forward?" which states: "MoveOn's organizing around Iraq has
become notably ambiguous lately. Although it talks in general terms
about bringing the troops home, specific timetables or meaningful
steps in that direction are nowhere discussed. Most strikingly,
MoveOn has adamantly refused to support the Iraq amendment from
Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey
and Maxine Waters, which calls for 'a fully funded, and systematic,
withdrawal of U.S. soldiers and military contractors from Iraq' by
the end of 2007. ...
"The Pelosi bill merely establishes 'benchmarks' of progress in
Iraq, so that all Bush has to do is certify that he is making
progress on those goals to keep funding flowing for the war."
Stauber is executive director of the Center for Media and
Democracy and is co-author with Rampton of "Weapons of Mass
Deception" and "The Best War Ever."

DEBORAH ABRAMSKY, STUART MORRIS, debabrams@yahoo.com,
KEVIN ZEESE, kzeese@earthlink.net, http://democracyrising.us
Abramsky, Morris and Zeese are Maryland residents associated with
local peace groups. This afternoon, they are involved in an
"occupation" of U.S. Representative Chris Van Hollen's D.C. office in
coordination with the national campaign the Occupation Project, a
nonviolent effort to defund the Iraq war. http://vcnv.org/the-
occupation-project-a-campaign-of-sustained-nonviolent-civil-
Abramsky said today: "Since the Democrats took control of
Congress, 214 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. As each day goes
by, close to three U.S. troops die in Iraq. Hundreds are wounded each
month. This means during the next year and a half another 1,600 will
die and tens of thousands more will be injured. Iraqi casualties will
be over one hundred-fold greater than those of the U.S."
Added Morris: "Continuing the U.S. presence in Iraq gains us
nothing. The U.S. occupation is the single biggest impediment to an
Iraqi-led ceasefire."
Zeese -- who is director of DemocracyRising.US -- recently wrote
a piece titled "The 'Democratic Supplemental' Fails to Deal with Iran
and Has Big Loopholes That Will Leave Tens of Thousands or More
Troops in Iraq" which states: "The headline that the Democratic
leadership would like voters to hear is 'troops out of Iraq by August
2008.' But the headline is more a wolf in sheep's clothing than a
reality. ...
"For most in the peace movement an August 2008 deadline for
withdrawal is already way too slow. Why the delay? On November 17,
2005, Rep. Jack Murtha called for redeployment within six months.
Here we are 16 months later and the Democratic leadership is talking
about redeployment in 17 months. Six months has turned into 33 months
-- and in fact the August [2008] deadline is illusory. ..." http://
democracyrising.us/content/view/819/151

DAVID SWANSON, david@davidswanson.org, http://www.davidswanson.org
Swanson has been writing extensively about the positions of
various Democrats on the Iraq war and its funding. His piece "Can
Congress End the War? Democratic Leaders May Prefer to Claim They
Tried But Failed" was publish by the online journal TomDispatch:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=171335
Swanson is co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167