Two particularly pro-war Democrats (and that's saying something), Ike Skelton and Jane Harman, have a bill, HCR 184, requiring Bush to create a plan for "success" in Iraq. I suppose this bill won't be needed now that Bush has hired a Fox "News" reporter to speak for him: the successes will be piling up daily.
Congressmen David Price and Brad Miller have a bill that makes slightly more sense, HJR 70, requiring Bush to send Congress a plan for pulling the troops out. But Bush has done this: he's announced publicly that he plans to let the next president handle it.
Congressman Mike Thompson's HCR348 would "express the sense of Congress" that:
(1) the United States should not maintain a permanent military presence or military bases in Iraq;
(2) the United States should not attempt to control the flow of Iraqi oil; and
(3) United States Armed Forces should be redeployed from Iraq as soon as practicable after the completion of Iraq's constitution-making process or September 30, 2006, whichever occurs first.
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey's H.C.R. 35 is a much better bill than these others, with the exception of McGovern's, because it calls for immediate withdrawal. Woolsey has also addressed the larger picture with H.C.R.158 , which would shift our security spending priorities away from war.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee's H Res 82 disavows the doctrine of preemption, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich's H.R.3760, with an accompanying Senate bill from Senator Mark Dayton, would create a Department of Peace.
A couple of other bills that don't go far enough seem worth supporting because of the important line they draw: Lee's H.C.R. 197 and Congressman Thomas Allen's HR 3142 both call for no permanent US military bases in Iraq.
The status of all of these bills and those below can be found on the website of United for Peace and Justice in this Excel file. http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/webready3-3.xls
WHAT ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY
These are just the bills that make full-throated or halfassed attempts to end the war or get their sponsor on cable. What about efforts to hold accountable the criminals who launched the war and to reveal the details of their dishonest presentations to Congress and the public?
Well, Senator Pat Roberts is blocking all attempts at an investigation of prewar lies in the Senate. He had long since split the investigation into two parts, with one part being the White House's misuse of "intelligence." Then, of course, he refused to allow that part of the investigation to happen. Now he's proposing to split that half of the investigation in half, with the half that he'll actually allow to proceed being more "investigating" that avoids investigating anything. How many times, I wonder, can you cut something in half and keep all the vital organs of it in the half that you keep cutting?
In the House, Congressman John Conyers' H Res 635 would create an investigation of Bush Administration crimes and make recommendations on impeachment.
Conyers and Feingold have introduced bills (for different reasons) in the House and Senate to censure Bush (H Res 636, S Res 398), and Conyers has also proposed to censure Cheney (H Res 637).
THURSDAY'S FORUM
If you can't make it, you'll want to listen on Pacifica Radio or watch AfterDowningStreet.org
Woolsey, Lee, Maurice Hinchey, and Maxine Waters will be co-chairing a forum on ending U.S. military operations in Iraq and bringing U.S. troops home, while helping the Iraqis regain control over their country and their future.
Witnesses will include:
" Dr. Paul Pillar, Former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000-2005 and long career in the CIA, faculty member of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, and author of Foreign Affairs feature article in March/April issue entitled "Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq"
" U.S. Congressional sponsors of pending legislation specifying plans and timelines for concluding U.S. military operations in Iraq and bringing home U.S. troops (U.S. Representatives Jim McGovern and Barbara Lee)
" Ms. Faiza al-Arji. She is a native Shia Iraqi, married to a Sunni Iraqi. They have three sons who currently live in Amman, Jordan. She will speak about her family's experiences in Iraq before and during the war and subsequent occupation.
" Dr. Dahlia Wasfi. She was born to a Jewish mother and an Iraqi father. She recently put her medical career on hold to visit with family members in Iraq, and recently returned from a three-month stay in Basra and Baghdad. She will describe her experiences in Iraq and discuss the life of Iraqis under occupation.
" Charlie Anderson (Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class, U.S. Navy-Ret.) He served with the Marine Crops' Second Tank Battalion during the invasion of Iraq. He is now the Southeast Regional Coordinator of Iraq Veterans Against the War and will discuss his experiences in the military during the war in Iraq.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
