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Keep up the pressure, tell our government to stick to the timeline!
Some high level military officials like General Ray Odierno have at times suggested conditions on the ground, such as an unsuccessful election or a rise in violence, could result in US forces extending their stay and have asked for contingency plans for a longer presence.
Keep pressure on our government to ensure that they adhere to the requirement to withdraw all troops by the end of 2011.
Peace Action West and other groups around the world have worked tirelessly since 2002 to mobilize the vast majority of the American public that opposed the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq. After years of phone calls, letters, protesting, turning out voters, meeting with members of Congress, bird-dogging candidates and other pressure, the US has now signed a written agreement to remove all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. We steadily built momentum in the public and Congress, and Peace Action West supporters made a crucial contribution toward the call for removing our troops from a tragic war that never should have started.
Since 2003, Americans and Iraqis have endured tremendous loss in blood and treasure, and it didn't bring the political stability promised by the Bush administration. The US occupation of Iraq severely damaged America's credibility in the region, weakening our position in working with Iraq's neighbors. In Iraq and the Middle East, Abu Ghraib is far from forgotten. The impunity of security contractors like Blackwater only adds to the outrage.
The military occupation also made little progress in reconstruction, detracting from the need to focus on civilians. Iraq's neighbors saw the millions of refugees that flooded their borders as further evidence of a failing strategy. The US wasted funds on outlandish construction projects, like a lavish US embassy and amusement park, instead of addressing basic needs like reliable electricity and clean water for Iraqis.
These factors spurred people across the US to action. From letter writing and lobbying to holding vigils and marching, our supporters helped call for a new, comprehensive strategy: a timeline for a military withdrawal from Iraq coupled with regional diplomacy, economic and humanitarian aid, and international peacekeeping if requested by Iraq. Peace Action West mobilized support for the very first pieces of legislation in Congress supporting a withdrawal and saw the momentum build among lawmakers for an alternative to open-ended war. We worked with progressive members of Congress to push the debate forward and saw more conservative members of Congress begin to question the Bush administration's strategy.
The 2006 elections were a clear mandate to Congress to get our soldiers out of Iraq. Peace Action West endorsed and organized for congressional candidates who opposed the Iraq War and supported withdrawing our troops. As pro-war politicians lost seats and Democrats surged to retake the House of Representatives, we made it clear that politicians who supported continuing the occupation of Iraq did so at great political cost. As the Bush era neared its end and the presidential campaign ramped up, the power of the peace movement was clearly felt in the Democratic primary. Then-Senator Barack Obama's early opposition to the war in Iraq was an asset and was widely considered to be a key factor that helped propel him to victory.
In late 2008, with the pending expiration of the UN mandate authorizing the presence of US forces in Iraq, the Bush administration hastily negotiated a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the Iraqi government, which included a timeline for withdrawal. The agreement stipulated that all US combat troops would leave the cities by June 30, 2009, and all US forces would then leave the country by the end of 2011.
Today the US appears to be on pace to meet its obligation to withdraw military forces according to the SOFA schedule. Some high level military officials like General Ray Odierno have at times suggested conditions on the ground, such as an unsuccessful election or a rise in violence, could result in US forces extending their stay and have asked for contingency plans for a longer presence. Some pundits have echoed the idea that Iraq is still dependent on the US and sticking to the timeline is inadvisable. That's why Peace Action West will continue to keep pressure on our government to ensure that at the very least they adhere to the requirement to withdraw all troops by the end of 2011. Ultimately, Iraq must work towards a political solution. No number of boots on the ground can provide that.
As the withdrawal continues, we can fulfill our moral obligation to Iraq by rebuilding Iraq's economy and infrastructure, helping with war refugees and internally displaced persons, and supporting regional diplomacy efforts.
