No Soldier Left Behind: Rebuild Iraq, Rebuild America
In the next week, we will be kicking off No Soldier Left Behind, a new phase of our campaign to end the US occupation of Iraq.
We are ratcheting up our work to promote a comprehensive plan to end the war and improve the security and well being of Iraqis and Americans. We need to make truly effective investments in political, economic and diplomatic strategies. But our first step must be to bring every soldier home, and end the failed occupation of Iraq.
It is beyond unbelievable that more than five years into the occupation, many Iraqis still lack the basic services, like electricity and running water, that they had before the war. And Iraq’s fractured government has made little progress toward political reconciliation. Meanwhile, Americans are investing billions of dollars in a failed policy while facing our own economic downturn.
We can’t risk another year of failure. We call for a strategic overhaul of the American approach in Iraq, and urge the US government to invest wisely in a truly comprehensive plan for stability. That plan includes regional diplomacy, funding for reconstruction and humanitarian aid, as well as international peacekeeping — if the Iraqi people want it. But the first critical step towards stability is to bring every soldier home, as well as private security contractors.
This year offers key opportunities, and with your help we will leap on them. The presidential elections have energized new voters and activists. The Iraq war promises to be a central issue in congressional and presidential elections, and support in the American public for a withdrawal of US troops remains high. We have made much progress and many candidates do support beginning withdrawal. Unfortunately, a large number of candidates, including Sen. Obama, still want to leave the door open to keeping tens of thousands of troops in Iraq indefinitely. We need a real end to the occupation, not a partial one. And we certainly don’t want Sen. McCain’s vision of being in Iraq for the next 100 years.
From now until election day, we will be working to ensure that everywhere members of Congress and candidates turn, they are getting our message loud and clear from the very voters they need to court. We aim to make sure the men and women who represent us in DC understand that changing course in Iraq is their job #1.
We hope you will join us. Learn how here.
