----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Volk" <joevolk@fcnl.org>
To: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 5:26 PM
Subject: Engaging Congress on Iraq - FCNL

To: FCNL Key Contacts
From: Joe Volk

Get ready for laboring with your members of Congress about the Iraq war
and occupation during the August recess.

On November 14, 2004, FCNL's General Committee included Iraq on its
list of legislative priorities. They said , FCNL will work to
"Remove all U.S. military forces and bases from Iraq, and fulfill
U.S. moral and legal obligations to reconstruct Iraq through
appropriate multinational, national, and Iraqi agencies." We
don’t have a majority in Congress for withdrawal, and, as a
recent House vote demonstrates.

Wednesday, July 20, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 291 to 137
against a "premature withdrawal" of U.S. troops from Iraq and
declared that even establishing a specific date for beginning the
withdrawal of U.S. troops would "embolden" the anti-U.S.
insurgents. That vote provides a good indication of the challenges we
face in the U.S. Congress. The majority in this Congress is not yet
prepared to support a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq. But, the good
news is that, the Congressional leadership and the White House see
public support for the war eroding and that erosion is picking up
momentum. They introduced this legislation to try to slow the loss of
support for their policy on Iraq.

The next two months provide you and FCNL a critical opportunity to
further shift the debate in the U.S. Congress from rejection of any
specific U.S. plan for military withdrawal to consensus for a declared
policy for U.S. withdrawal of military forces and bases.

Why do I think this? In the last six months, FCNL lobby teams have
engaged more than 50 different congressional offices on Iraq policy. We
focused mostly on Republicans, as they are the majority, but we also
met with some Democrats. What we are hearing – from those who
supported the war and support the president – is agreement
that U.S. policy should be to ultimately withdraw all U.S. troops and
military bases from Iraq. But we also see a continuing fear of the
political consequences if they say the "W" word, withdraw.

Movement from staying the course to withdrawal is evident. We've moved
from a situation in January when most members of Congress were afraid
to even question U.S. policy toward Iraq for fear of appearing
unpatriotic to a position where more and more elected officials are
troubled by the static U.S. policy, which seems to them to be a
downward spiral of conflict heading toward quagmire.

The change in congressional attitude is evident in new legislation.
FCNL counts at least five amendments that have already been offered
that attempt to turn U.S. policy toward withdrawal from Iraq, as well
as six pieces of pending legislation (for an analysis of this
legislation, go to http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/NRPIEXFBPU/
Some of these had bipartisan sponsorship and votes.

Many in our FCNL network have asked: What should we do? Which of these
several bills or amendments does FCNL support? We believe Congress will
have to shift its mindset from "responsible withdrawal" to
"responsibility to withdraw." The U.S. military presence is
the problem, not the solution. Therefore, the United States should
remove all U.S. military forces and bases from Iraq. But we also know
that, as I said at the top of this email, that's not where the Congress
is right now. Here’s what we can accomplish in the next two
months:

The first step that could win majority support in the Congress is a
declaration that the policy of the United States government is to
withdraw all U.S. military forces and bases from Iraq – that
is the core of FCNL's Iraq STEP resolution (see
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/NBEUEXFBPV/). Rep. Tom Allen
(ME) has introduced legislation (H.R. 3142) that includes the principal
points of the Iraq STEP resolution and there are now groups in 30
states supporting the FCNL Iraq STEP resolution.

Act Now

FCNL continues to believe that a congressional resolution declaring
that it is "the policy of the United States government to withdraw
all U.S. military troops and bases from Iraq" has the best chance
of shifting the debate in Congress. Find out more information on how
you can support this effort go to
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/EHZGEXFBPX/ At the same time,
it is important that we demonstrate public support for other
legislation that seeks to shift the direction of U.S. policy. I'm
including with this email links to background documents that provide an
FCNL analysis of the different pieces of legislation on Iraq currently
pending before Congress. To read the full analysis, click here go to
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/IOBPEXFBPZ/ To read a summary
chart of Iraq legislation currently pending before the Congress, see
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/ANFYEXFBQA/

Many bills and amendments will be offered before a U.S. withdrawal from
Iraq is accomplished. Some will clearly call for withdrawal and can be
vehicles for building a grassroots movement. Some will propose specific
programs of action to accomplish withdrawal and will help to build a
core of congressional support for the "responsibility to
withdraw." Some will condition or cut appropriations (funding) for
the continuing war and occupation. And, some, like the FCNL STEP
Resolution, will advance a change-strategy to win over opponents of
withdrawal to join the core of congressional support for withdrawal.
FCNL will try to support the full range of withdrawal legislation, but
we will focus on our main job of "friendly persuasion" to win
over opponents or those who sit on the fence.

The beauty of the STEP Resolution is that it is designed to bring unity
where division now reigns. Whether you opposed the war or strongly
supported the war, whether you stand for withdrawal or for continuing
the occupation, everyone can join in unity on the policy that the U.S.
should have no imperial agenda for Iraq and that all U.S. military
forces and bases should be withdrawn. A voter can say to a member of
Congress, "You supported the war; I opposed it. You stand for
staying the course; I advocate withdrawal. We disagree on those points,
but, surely, you can join with me in affirming a declared policy that
the U.S. will withdrawal all military forces and bases. Period."

Background

Last night, July 20, the House of Representatives approved an amendment
by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) that specifically warns against the
"premature withdrawal" of U.S. troops from Iraq. The
amendment was to the State Department authorization (H.R. 2601). It
passed by a 291 to 137 vote, after lengthy debate on the floor of the
House. Go to http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/GNYVEXFBQB/ to
find out how your representative voted on this amendment.

The good news is that Rep. Ros-Lehtinen felt compelled to offer this
amendment because support is building in the Congress for a discussion
of when the U.S. will withdraw from Iraq and there are several pieces
of legislation pending that seek to shift the debate toward withdrawal.

Rep. Tom Allen (ME) has introduced legislation (H.R. 3142) declaring
that it is the policy of the United States not to maintain a long term
or permanent military presence in Iraq. Reps. Abercrombie (HI), Woolsey
(CA), Lee (CA), and Jones (NC) have introduced bipartisan legislation
(H.J.R. 55) that specifically states that the United States should
begin withdrawing from Iraq by October 1, 2006. And Rep. Barbara Lee
has introduced legislation (H.R. 197) that declares that the U.S. will
not establish permanent bases in Iraq. FCNL believes that working to
increase the numbers of members of Congress supporting any or all of
these pieces of legislation is an important priority in the next few
months.

The bad news is that it is our assessment there are not enough votes to
pass such legislation this year. If we do our work well in the next few
months, we may have enough votes to pass some of these bills in the
second session of the 109th Congress.

FCNL's Col. Dan Smith (USA Ret.) has prepared an in-depth analysis of
legislation introduced in the 109th Congress about Iraq, see
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/LLTGEXFBQC/ I encourage you to
read this analysis. Although none of this legislation would pass today
if it came to a vote on the House floor, we believe that building up
the lists of cosponsors of several of these pieces of legislation would
be an important part of any advocacy program in the next few months.
Members of Congress can cosponsor more than one bill.

We’ve also prepared a chart that provides a quick summary of
Iraq legislation in the 109th Congress and indicates which legislation
FCNL supports. Go to
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/INFDEXFBQD/

Finally, I'd like to draw your attention to an important article
prepared by Helena Cobban, a Friend who has written several important
analytical articles for FCNL in the last few months. The article,
"Next step in helping Iraqis: Set a withdrawal date",
appeared in the July 21, 2005 edition of the Christian Science
Monitor--http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/KNQSEXFBNK/CJCPEXFBQE/>

Special Note: FCNL is moving back into our Capitol Hill offices at the
end of July. As a result, we will have a temporary interruption in our
telephone and email communications systems starting July 28 at 5 pm
Eastern time. The office should be functioning again by the middle of
the following week. Watch our web site for more details.
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