Leave Afghanistan

Quote of the Day: “We will never be able to secure and police every town and village in Afghanistan. Nor will we be able to build Afghanistan from the ground up into a Western-style democracy.” — a letter to President Obama from 27 Senators

More members of Congress are starting to agree that we should leave Afghanistan.Let’s encourage them.

That’s why I sent the following letter to Congress, from which you can copy or borrow . . .

The President’s plan to remove 33,000 troops from Afghanistan over 18 months is insufficient. We should remove all of our troops immediately.

We’ve met our objectives. As 27 Senators have pointed out http://1.usa.gov/lMhCIe  . . .

* Osama bin Laden is dead
* The country is no longer an Al Qaeda safe haven
* There are only 50 to 100 Al Qaeda members remaining there

Are there really other reasons to stay? Can we . . .

* police every community in Afghanistan?
* build it into a Western-style democracy?

Our continued presence will NOT make the U.S. safer. It will NOT improve Afghanistan’s future. Instead, it will mean MORE . . .

* dead and wounded Americans
* radicalization among Afghans who resent our occupation
* of my tax dollars flushed by corrupt Afghan officials
* debt — to the tune of $100 billion per year

This is why a partial withdrawal is insufficient. YOU can make the President bring ALL our troops home immediately.

* De-fund the war in this year’s Defense Authorization bill
* Support bills such as Rep. Barbara Lee’s H.R. 780, which would fund the withdrawal http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.780:

Take these steps to end the war, and you will see an increase in your public support.

END LETTER

You can send your letter using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.

But before you do that, please take a moment to read the following update . . .

I reported last week that this will be a tough month for us financially. We need to raise $26,967 by the end of July. I’m please to report real progress. We’re down to $21,494 needed.

Unless there’s someone out there who wants to do the full amount, we’ve still got a bit of work to do. Any amount you can contribute will help.

But what helps the most, for the long term, is new monthly pledges. These assure constant progress, and reduce the need for these kinds of fundraising appeals. Best of all, you can start a pledge of any size. We have a bunch of people pledging $3, $5, or $8 per month, and just as many pledging $10, $12, $15 each month. In fact, we have several who pledge $50 per month, and even a few persons pledging more than $100 per month.

There’s a level for everyone. And, your pledge is our budget.

Thank you very much for your support,

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.