Follow up for Mr. Obama: You’ve repeatedly stated that when it comes to healthcare policy, insurance companies should get a seat at the table, but not every seat. Should Halliburton have a seat at the table when military or foreign policy is made?
IRAQ: U.S. soldiers and reservists in Iraq are mostly working people or the children of working people – not the children of laptop warriors from the pundit elite. With Congressional unpopularity rivaling that of President Bush as the Iraq occupation drags on, 70 members of the U.S. House recently sent an open letter to the President with a clear declaration:
“We are writing to inform you that we will only support additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office.”
Will you join tonight in pledging no additional funds except for the “protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq”? If not, why not?
IRAQ’S OIL: Democratic leaders in Congress have joined the White House in declaring passage of a proposed Iraqi oil law as a “benchmark” of progress. While the proposed law calls for oil revenues to be shared among Iraq’s regions and ethnic groups, it would open Iraq’s vast oil reserves to foreign oil companies, under contracts of up to 30 years. Privatization is why many Iraqis – including the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions – oppose the bill. Mr. Kucinich has urged Democrats to drop the oil law as a “benchmark,” saying that privatization pressure tends to confirm that the “purpose of the war is about oil.”
Do you believe that the proposed oil law giving a green light to foreign firms should be pushed on the government and people of Iraq?
** Note to activists in Iowa, New Hampshire and beyond: Having worked in television, I’m not naïve about what can be accomplished in a 90-minute TV forum. If Keith and the union folks don’t get to these questions tonight, feel free to use any of them in the coming weeks as candidates campaign in your communities.
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