Stand Up and Be Counted
Sep 13, 2007
Dear Friend,
We thought you would be interested in this message from Senator Levin on an initiative to end the war in Iraq.
Sincerely,
John Isaacs and Guy Stevens
From: Senator Carl Levin
 Stand up and be counted. Click here for change in Iraq. |
This is a critical moment to stand up and be counted on Iraq. Many of us have been fighting for a change in course in Iraq for years. And it's all led up to this: we could turn a corner in the coming weeks.
I, along with Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, will push our amendment in the Senate to force that change in course in Iraq. If we can get the 60 votes needed to break the Republican leadership’s filibuster and pass our amendment, it will dramatically increase the pressure on the President to change course and end his failed Iraq policy.
To do that, we need Americans in large numbers to stand up and be counted too. The American people have been way ahead of most national leaders in seeking an end to the war. We need that support once again to send a clear message to the Bush Administration during this critical time.
Our amendment would require the President to begin reducing the number of American troops in Iraq within 120 days. It would further provide that our forces in Iraq would step out of the middle of the sectarian civil war and limit their missions to force protection, counterterrorism, and training of Iraqi Security Forces.
We are working toward the filibuster-proof majority in the Senate that could finally force the President to change course. It seems like every day there's another story in the newspapers about another leading Republican who has lost confidence in the President's conduct of the war.
Decisive action can't come soon enough. But it will only happen if the Republicans who claim to want change will stand up and vote for change on the Senate floor. I need your help to tell them that the American people are long past ready for that change in course.
While our troops have done everything that has been asked of them and more, risking their all and giving their all, the Iraqi political leaders remain frozen in their own history, unwilling to take the political risks essential if there is any hope of ending the violence.
Setting a date to begin reducing and transitioning our forces would make clear to the Iraqi leaders that the open-ended commitment of U.S. forces is over. The Iraqi political leaders would finally be forced to make the political compromises that they have promised and that only they can make, and that are essential if the violence is going to end.
It's decision time on Iraq. We will be fighting hard in the coming weeks to make sure the Senate reaches the same decision the American people made long ago - to insist on a timetable for the phased redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq. I hope I can count on your support.
Sincerely,
Carl Levin
P.S. Some Republicans who acknowledge that a change of course is needed in Iraq also say: "not now." That's exactly backward - the sooner we force the Iraqi political leaders to take responsibility, the better. And that could finally happen in the coming weeks.
Click here to stand up and be counted in support of a change in course in Iraq.
