NOW Signs On To Letter Calling for Iraq Withdrawal Plan

This letter refers to an amendment introduced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., and ultimately rejected by the House of Representatives.

May 25, 2005

Dear Member of Congress:

We urge you to vote for the Woolsey sense of the Congress amendment that asks President Bush to develop a plan as soon as practicable to withdraw American troops from Iraq.

Debate over the future of the American intervention into Iraq is overdue in Congress. After more than two years of fighting, the authorization of more than $200 billion to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, over 1,600 American deaths and 12,000 wounded, and many more Iraqi casualties, this country needs a dialogue on the future American policy towards Iraq.

The Woolsey amendment provides no deadlines and no timeframe. It simply calls for the President to submit a plan to Congress on the withdrawal of American forces. This amendment is consistent with the stated policy of President Bush not to stay in Iraq indefinitely. On April 13, 2004, he stated "As a proud and independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation and neither does America."

This amendment is being offered in the context of declining public support for the war. As USA Today reported on May 3, 2005, "Support for the decision to go to war in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level since the campaign began in March 2003 . . . 41% say the war was worth it; 57% say it wasn't."

If the Woolsey amendment is adopted, it will begin to reframe the debate about Iraq and lead to discussion about how to move towards total Iraqi sovereignty and U.S. withdrawal.

We urge a "yes" vote on the Woolsey amendment.

Sincerely,

Ellen E Barfield
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and Veterans for Peace

Jerome P. Brown
New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199

Leslie Cagan
United for Peace and Justice

Simone Campbell, SSS
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Tom Z. Collina
20/20 Vision

Kim A. Gandy
National Organization for Women

Peter W. Galbraith
Former US Ambassador to Croatia
Senior Diplomatic Fellow, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Mark W. Harrison
General Board of Church and Society
United Methodist Church

Amy F. Isaacs
Americans for Democratic Action

John Isaacs
Council for a Livable World

Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory
Presbyterian Church, (USA) Washington Office

Rob Keithan
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Paul Kimmel, Ph.D.
Psychologists for Social Responsibility

Kevin M. Martin
Peace Action

Robert K. Musil, PhD, MPH
Physicians for Social Responsibility

Susan Shaer
Women's Action for New Directions

Carol Reilley Urner
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Joe Volk
Friends Committee on National Legislation

Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The Shalom Center