Action Spotlight
Force a Congressional Debate Over the War in Afghanistan
Early this week, Congress is expected to debate and vote on Rep. Kucinich's privileged resolution for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Urge your Representative to vote for this resolution and speak out against the continued occupation of Afghanistan during the debate. Write to your Representative >
Subscribe
Blog
JFP 3/11: House Afghanistan Debate: What Kucinich Accomplished
Just Foreign Policy News
March 11, 2010
Just Foreign Policy News on the Web:
[To receive just the Summary and a link to the web version, you can use this webform:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/switchdailynews]
House Afghanistan Debate: What Kucinich Accomplished
Yesterday, at long last, there was a vigorous debate about the war in Afghanistan on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. The legislative vehicle was a resolution introduced by Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich calling for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of the year. But House critics of the war have long been agitating for a real debate.
[includes video from the debate of Edwards, Grayson, Paul, Pingree, and Kucinich.]
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/11-11
Support the work of Just Foreign Policy:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html
Summary:
U.S./Top News
Kucinich Resolution Call-In Report Back
Thank you for calling your Representative urging them to support the Kucinich resolution for a withdrawal timetable from Afghanistan, H. Con Res. 248.
Let us know how your call went by submitting a comment below. Sharing your Representative's name, whether you were successful in reaching their office, and any feedback you received from staffers would be especially helpful.
Commenting requires you to login or register for an account. Registering is easy -- no email confirmation required.
If your comment does not show up right away, don't worry. Your comments go through a moderation queue to keep out spam. But we will not edit the content of your comment. Unless you are a spammer, that is, in which case: shame on you.
Thanks!
If One Phone Call Could End the War
If you could end the war in Afghanistan by making one phone call, would you make that call? Would you press 10 buttons to stop the wanton destruction of the lives of American soldiers and Afghan civilians?
I suspect that the majority of the literate adult population in the United States, if faced with that choice, would press 10 buttons to end the war.
Unfortunately, there isn't one phone call that will end the war. But there is a plausible chain of consequence that connects a phone call made to Congress today to ending the war in the foreseeable future.
In the next few days the House of Representatives is expected to debate and vote on a "privileged resolution" - H.Con.Res. 248 - introduced by Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich that would establish a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan.
JFP 3/5: Criticism Grows of Aid Effort in Haiti
Just Foreign Policy News
March 5, 2010
Support the work of Just Foreign Policy:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html
Help Kucinich Force House Debate on Afghanistan
Yesterday Rep. Kucinich introduced a privileged resolution - H. Con Res. 248 - invoking the War Powers Act to force the President to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year. Because it is a privileged resolution, Congress will be forced to debate the issue of the open-ended U.S. war in and occupation of Afghanistan. Debate is expected early next week. Ask your Representative to become a co-sponsor of Representative Kucinich's resolution.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/kucinich
Summary:
U.S./Top News
JFP 3/4: Kucinich Introduces Resolution for Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Just Foreign Policy News
March 4, 2010
Support the work of Just Foreign Policy:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html
Help Kucinich Use War Powers Act to Force Afghanistan Debate
Today Representative Kucinich introduced a privileged resolution - H. Con Res. 248 - invoking the War Powers Act to force the President to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year. Because it is a privileged resolution, Congress will be forced to debate the issue of the open-ended U.S. war in and occupation of Afghanistan. Ask your Representative to become a co-sponsor of Representative Kucinich's resolution.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/kucinich
Schakowsky to Clinton: Investigate Human Rights Abuses in Honduras
Nine Congressional Democrats have written to Secretary of State Clinton, urging her to "fully investigate reports of severe human rights abuses in Honduras." The Members of Congress say that the U.S. "must make it clear that the ongoing intimidation and persecution of activists and dissidents is unacceptable." In addition to Rep. Schakowsky, the signers were: McGovern, Grijalva, Farr, Barbara Lee, Oberstar, Honda, Conyers, and Waters.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Honduras_Human_Rights.pdf
Summary:
U.S./Top News
Schakowsky to Clinton: Investigate Human Rights Abuses in Honduras
Nine Congressional Democrats have written to Secretary of State Clinton, urging her to "fully investigate reports of severe human rights abuses in Honduras." The Members of Congress say that the U.S. "must make it clear that the ongoing intimidation and persecution of activists and dissidents is unacceptable." In addition to Rep. Schakowsky, the signers were: McGovern, Grijalva, Farr, Barbara Lee, Oberstar, Honda, Conyers, and Waters. The letter is posted here.
Kucinich Forces Congress to Debate Afghanistan
Today Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced H. Con Res. 248, a privileged resolution with 16 original cosponsors that will require the House of Representatives to debate whether to continue the war in Afghanistan. Debate on the resolution is expected early next week.
Original cosponsors of the Kucinich resolution include John Conyers, Ron Paul, José Serrano, Bob Filner, Lynn Woolsey, Walter Jones, Danny Davis, Barbara Lee, Michael Capuano, Raúl Grijalva, Tammy Baldwin, Tim Johnson, Yvette Clarke, Eric Massa, Alan Grayson, and Chellie Pingree.
The Pentagon doesn't want Congress to debate Afghanistan. The Pentagon wants Congress to fork over $33 billion more to pay for the current military escalation, no questions asked, no restrictions imposed for a withdrawal timetable or an exit strategy.
Ideally, from the point of view of the Pentagon, Congress would fork over that money right away, before the coming Kandahar offensive that the $33 billion is supposed to pay for, because you can expect a lot of bad news out of Afghanistan in the form of deaths of U.S. soldiers and Afghan civilians once the Kandahar offensive starts, and it would sure be awkward if all that bad news reached Washington while the $33 billion was hanging fire.
JFP 3/3: US doctors plead for Navy hospital ship to stay in Haiti
Just Foreign Policy News
March 3, 2010
Support the work of Just Foreign Policy:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html
Help Kucinich Use War Powers Act to Force Afghanistan Debate
This week, Representative Kucinich plans to introduce a privileged resolution invoking the War Powers Act to force the President to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year. Because it will be a privileged resolution, Congress will be forced to debate the issue of the open-ended U.S. war in and occupation of Afghanistan. Ask your Representative to become a co-sponsor of Representative Kucinich's resolution.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/kucinich
Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) Some American doctors are pleading U.S. officials to keep the Navy hospital ship Comfort in Haiti, the Baltimore Sun reports. University of Southern California surgeon Randy Sherman, medical director for the aid organization Operation Smile, said "there is no doubt" there are enough earthquake victims to keep the Comfort busy. He thinks it could operate at high volume for at least three more months. US doctors say Haiti is replete with patients whose orthopedic injuries have healed improperly and require complex surgeries that only the Comfort can provide.
2) Human Rights Watch said Honduran authorities should ensure that recent killings and other attacks on opponents of the 2009 coup are promptly and thoroughly investigated. HRW has received credible reports of multiple acts of violence over the past month targeting members of the National Popular Resistance Front, including killings, rape, torture, kidnapping, and assault.
JFP 3/2: The Lost Children of Haiti
Just Foreign Policy News
March 2, 2010
Support the work of Just Foreign Policy:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html
Help Kucinich Use War Powers Act to Force Afghanistan Debate
This week, Representative Kucinich plans to introduce a privileged resolution invoking the War Powers Act to force the President to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year. Because it will be a privileged resolution, Congress will be forced to debate the issue of the open-ended U.S. war in and occupation of Afghanistan. Ask your Representative to become an original co-sponsor of Representative Kucinich's resolution.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/kucinich
NYT video: The Lost Children of Haiti
Even before the earthquake, one "option" for Port-au-Prince's homeless children was "Restavek," an underground system that some call foster care, and others call child slavery. Now their numbers swell.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/02/25/world/americas/1247467176636/the-lost-children-of-haiti.html
Beverly Bell: A Future for Agriculture, A Future for Haiti
Defense Daily: Hill To Weigh War Supplemental Next Month
Hill To Weigh War Supplemental Next Month
Defense Daily, March 2, 2010, Volume 245, No. 39, pg. 2
By Emelie Rutherford
http://www.defensedaily.com/publications/dd/Hill-To-Weigh-War-Supplement... (subscription required)
Congress is expected to start considering in mid-April President Barack Obama’s $33 billion request for supplemental war funding for the current fiscal year, which is expected to be approved without any major skirmishes.
Though Obama pledged to end the Bush administration practice of funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through such emergency appropriations bills, he has requested the $33 billion FY ’10 supplemental to fund a buildup of troops in Afghanistan.
The House Appropriations Committee (HAC) is expected to kick off consideration of the measure with a markup session on or around April 15. That date falls on the week after a two-week congressional recess set to begin on March 27. Until then, the congressional defense committees will continue to be enmeshed in hearings on the Pentagon’s request for a $548.9 billion base budget and $159.3 billion in war funding for FY ’11, which begins Oct. 1.
Senate appropriators are also expected to take up the FY ’10 supplemental soon after the congressional recess.
The $33 billion war-funding proposal is dominated by operations costs and does not include much procurement. Yet it notably seeks $1.1 billion for buying additional Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP) for Afghanistan; that money combined with $3.4 billion in the Pentagon’s war-funding request for FY ’11 is intended to meet the Pentagon’s requirement for 28,882 trucks in the MRAP family of vehicles, which includes the newer MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV).