HE'S LOST A WAR; NOW HE'S LOST HIS MIND! HELP!!!

Dear MoveOn member,

It's outrageous: after the voters, the generals, and the Iraq Study Group all told the President to lead us out of Iraq, he is planning an escalation and will send more troops as soon as this month.

Congress can block an escalation but it is uncertain if they will. They need to hear from us immediately and loudly. We owe it to our troops—and the Iraqis—whose lives are on the line.

Can you sign the petition opposing an escalation in Iraq? We'll deliver your comments to your representatives by the end of the day—there's no time to waste. Click below.

http://pol.moveon.org/noescalation/one_click_sign.pl?0=1&id=9671-5694953-kCNdSqBmBwEk2X3aBWrrbw&t=1

After you sign, please forward this email to friends, family and colleagues—we all need to speak up together.

This week could be one of the most important decision points about Iraq since the war began.

Already Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid are drawing a line in the sand for Bush saying they oppose escalation.¹ But Republicans and some Democrats are considering rubber-stamping Bush's escalation plan.

Now we need to back Pelosi and Reid up—pushing Democrats to unify and splitting Republicans away from Bush.

Bush's escalation plan is almost universally unpopular among experts, politicians and the public.

• Military commanders have called an escalation a disastrous move. Some call it, "like throwing Kerosene on a fire."² In Senate testimony, General John Abizaid, the top commander for Iraq, said the following when asked about sending more troops:
  
  "I met with every divisional commander, General Casey, the Corps commander, General Dempsey. We all talked together. And I said, in your professional opinion, if we were to bring in more American troops now, does it add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq? And they all said no. And the reason is, because we want the Iraqis to do more. It's easy for the Iraqis to rely upon to us do this work. I believe that more American forces prevent the Iraqis from doing more, from taking more responsibility for their own future."³
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to President Bush saying, "Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months."⁴
• A growing number of Republicans are speaking out against escalation. Republican Senator and Vietnam Veteran Chuck Hagel (NE) calls the escalation plan, "Alice in Wonderland," and added, "I'm absolutely opposed to sending any more troops to Iraq. It is folly."⁵
• The public is certain that sending more troops is a bad idea. In a recent poll, only 11% of the public supports sending more troops to Iraq.⁶ And, in a new CBS poll, the public says Iraq is the top issue that Congress must address.⁷

But matching words with deeds is the catch here. Congress needs to force a change and they need to hear from their constituents right now. Can you sign the petition? For more information, click below.

http://pol.moveon.org/noescalation/index.html?id=9671-5694953-kCNdSqBmBwEk2X3aBWrrbw&t=2

We're planning a whole week of Iraq activities starting with this petition to Congress. It is critically important to keep the pressure on Congress so they do the right thing.

Thanks for all you do.

–Tom, Nita, Wes, Carrie and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Monday, January 8th, 2007

Sources

1. "Bush Facing Deep Divide Over More Troops for Iraq," The New York Times. Jan. 6, 2007.

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2296&id=9671-5694953-kCNdSqBmBwEk2X3aBWrrbw&t=3

2. NBC Nightly News, Dec. 21, 2006.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/21/troops-iraq-kerosene/

3. Testimony of Gen. John Abizaid in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. November 15, 2006.

4. Letter to President Bush from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Jan. 5, 2007.
http://speaker.house.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=0021

5. "A 'Surge' Faces Trouble In the Senate" The Washington Post. Jan. 1, 2007.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2297&id=9671-5694953-kCNdSqBmBwEk2X3aBWrrbw&t=4

6. CNN Poll by Opinion Research Corporation. Dec. 15-17, 2006. N=1,019 adults nationwide. MoE +/- 3.
http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm

7. CBS News Poll. Jan 1-3, 2007. N=993 adults nationwide. MoE +/- 3 (for all adults)

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2298&id=9671-5694953-kCNdSqBmBwEk2X3aBWrrbw&t=5

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