“We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators”

My ass.

This is not a “war” on some elusive “terror”. This is an occupation. And we need to leave now. Get our troops out of the middle of a civil war. I hate that the actions of this administration brought this upon Iraq and our country. I hate that so many lives, both US and Iraqi, have been lost and (to quote Cindy Sheehan) “for what noble cause”?

I applaud all those who are trying to bring an end to this – Democrats AND Republicans. Don’t let ANYONE sell you on the idea that you are hurting our troops by asking for their redeployment. You’re not.

Already, we are hearing the same tired rhetoric about how ending funding for the war is somehow the same as cutting funding for the troops. Unfortunately, we don’t just hear it from the right. I’ve heard some of my Democratic colleagues make the same mischaracterizations. But the fact of the matter is this measure will in no way endanger the troops. I think Duke Law professor and former acting Solicitor General of the United States, Walter Dellinger, said it best when he testified on this issue before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. By ending funding for the war, Professor Dellinger said:

“…there would not be one penny less for salary of the troops. There would not be one penny less for benefits of the troops. There would not be one penny less for weapons or ammunition. There would not be one penny less for supplies or support.

Those troops will simply be redeployed to other areas of where the Armed Forces are utilized, and that it seems to me is fully within the authority of Congress to do.”

Help get our troops out of Iraq. Write your congressperson, write letters to the editor of your local paper but let your voice be heard.