Some great advice from UFPJ on how to end the war

[proud2BlibKansan]

WHAT WE CAN ASK U.S. REPRESENTATIVES TO DO

1. Contact the Congressional Progressive Caucus and sign its letter commiting to supporting only funding for the occupation of Iraq that safely redeploys all troops.� Also co-sponsor the Fully Funded United States Military Redeployment And Iraqi Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2008 introduced by Congress Members Lee, Woolsey, and Waters.

2. Commit to publicly and privately urging House leadership not to bring up any more bills to fund the occupation of Iraq.

3. Commit publicly to voting No on any bill that funds the occupation of Iraq.
(Some congress members may want to attach an exception to this for any bill that only funds withdrawal, as in number 1 above.� While a bill to require and fund a withdrawal will almost certainly be vetoed, it might be a step forward for your member to support it.)

4. Commit publicly to voting No on any procedural vote to bring funding of the occupation of Iraq up for a vote.
(If our representatives want to seriously represent us, they need to commit to not playing any sort of games with the lives of Iraqis and our loved ones.)

5. Commit to publicly and privately whipping colleagues to do the same.

WHAT WE CAN ASK U.S. SENATORS TO DO

1. Contact the Congressional Progressive Caucus and sign its letter commiting to supporting only funding for the occupation of Iraq that safely redeploys all troops.

2. Commit to publicly and privately urging Senate leadership not to bring up any more bills to fund the occupation of Iraq.

3. Commit publicly to filibustering any bill that funds the occupation of Iraq.
(Some senators may want to attach an exception to this for any bill that only funds withdrawal, as in number 1 above.� While a bill to require and fund a withdrawal will almost certainly be vetoed, it might be a step forward for your senators to support it.� A commitment to filibuster would follow the model of what Senator Chris Dodd did with telecom immunity. Filibustering cannot be done by one person alone and does not involve giving long speeches. It is a commitment to vote no on "cloture." A cloture vote is a procedural vote to bring a bill to a vote and requires 60 votes to pass, which means that 41 senators voting No or not showing up blocks the bill. Our goal, therefore is to find 41 senators who commit to filibustering, which is easier than finding 51 to vote No, or 60 to vote Yes on a good bill, or 67 to override a veto. We will never find 41 unless the first brave few lead the way.)

4. Commit publicly to voting No on any bill that funds the occupation of Iraq.
(If any such bill makes it past cloture, we want our senators to vote No on it.)

5. Commit to publicly and privately whipping colleagues to do the same.



John Bruhns
Legislative Action Coordinator
United For Peace And Justice
www.unitedforpeace.org