Time to Take a Stand

Voters returned Democrats to power in both the Senate and House of Representatives last year in an election that was widely heralded as a "referendum" on the war. Since that election, reputable public opinion polls have consistently revealed that 2/3 of the American people no longer approve of President Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq. Taken together, we believe the message for you could not be clearer: The time has come for members of Congress to assert the powers granted to them by the Constitution (1, 2) regarding matters of war and peace!

Your failure to respond to a similar message in 2002 has cost our country dearly (deaths, $billions) during the past 4 years. Far too many of you did not clarify your positions until it was too late. By not taking a firm stand during the formative stages of the Joint Resolution on Iraq, you wound up being forced to vote (Senate, House) on legislation that gave President Bush an open-ended authorization to wage war. Please don't fail us again by continuing to stand on the sidelines in 2007.

In defiance of the Democratic leadership's repeated requests (Jul '06, Sep '06, Oct '06, Jan '07) to begin the "phased redeployment" of our military forces, President Bush declared that the key feature of his New Way Forward in 2007 would be another troop surge. Once again, reputable opinion polls consistently indicated that a solid majority of Americans wanted Congress to challenge the president's "new policy." And once again, far too many of you have refused to take a firm stand one way or the other. This is not what voters elect you to do. This is not what the general public clearly expects you to do. And this is not what your fellow Americans risking their lives in Iraq need you to do.

We urge each of you to clarify your positions regarding the establishment of a viable exit strategy from Iraq, especially in relation to the ongoing troop surge. This should not only entail speaking out strongly, but also submitting or cosponsoring relevant legislation. In doing so, we ask that you rise above partisan politics and concentrate on forging a bipartisan consensus on what will be best for our country as a whole. Don't let this become just one more vitally important congressional debate that ends in stalemate or only produces weak, ineffective legislation!