The following is a letter to my congressmen (Henry Waxmen) to support a House resolution that would reduce troop strength in Iraq, at the bottom of this letter, you will find the opportunity to write a similar letter, or you can use the one they provide for you. Also please feel free to copy and paste this one in there too:
While it is never a pleasant situation to admit defeat, it is a common fact of life. Hardworking people lose jobs, political parties lose elections and we all make decisions from time to time that can cause a lifetime of regret. As much as we try to avoid these failures, they are situations that will occur, and then we move on. The idea is to keep these mistakes to a minimum. When speaking of war, you’re talking about the worst kind of failure. War in itself reflects a failure, a failure for human beings to sit down and work things out without having to resort to killing one another. Once a war is in place however, things can escalate very quickly out of control. In the Modern U.S. that war had better be just, well managed and have a clear goal to work towards if victory is ever to be obtained.
In the case of Iraq, we must question all three of these conditions.
What’s worse, is the progress in Iraq has not materialized. If we build a school today that children are too scared to go to tomorrow, where is the great victory? If we train ill-prepared soldiers that will die by the ticking hands of an IED, where is the great justice? When innocent civilians are killed because no one can guarantee their safety, it’s a great failure. Our image abroad is at its lowest point in recent memory. Terrorist attacks have increased since Iraq, and Americans are less safe.
For these fundamental reasons, the reasons decided by people like Bush, Cheney, Wolfawitz and Rumsfeld, Iraq is a failure. Our troops have done a fine job, they just can’t win a war that was lost by the politicians before it even started.
WE MUST FACE THE FACTS! If we stay in Iraq under Bush’s leadership, we will continue to do more harm than good. If we are going to turn things around in Iraq, we would have to take bold and fresh moves. If we can’t get Bush to listen, then Congress has to stop funding the war. If Congress hadn’t stopped funding Nixon in Vietnam, the war could have dragged on for many more years. Who knows how many people would still be alive today if Congress had only acted sooner?
While this bill will probably not pass through the Republican House, I urge you to stand up and be counted with the growing numbers of support who wish to see the average soldier returned home safely. These fine men and women are making the ultimate sacrifice for this country, and all they ask is that we only send them into battle when it’s absolutely necessary. With the descent among the military command and Republican rank and file, sooner or later the President will have no choice but to listen.
Thank you for your consideration,
Bryan