Feingold Tunes in to Anti-War Sentiment from The Nation's John Nichols

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0820-29.htm

Published on Saturday, August 20, 2005 by The Nation

Feingold Tunes in to Antiwar Sentiment

by John Nichols

President Bush and US Senator Russ Feingold have taken dramatically different approaches to the traditional August break from Washington intrigues. Bush has gone into hiding, while Feingold has gone to talk with Americans.

<>Feingold has gone a completely different route from Bush. He has traveled extensively, and made himself available to anyone who wants to talk with him about the Iraq imbroglio at more than fifteen town-hall meetings in his home state.What Feingold has heard during listening sessions with constituents across the heartland state of Wisconsin has emboldened him to become the first senator to call for setting a date to end the occupation and bring the troops home.

"I call what I am doing breaking the taboo," the Democrat who is being boomed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate said. " senators have been intimidated and are not talking about a time frame. We have to make it safe to go in the water and discuss this. A person shouldn't be accused of not supporting troops just because we want some clarity on our mission in Iraq."

In fact, there is nothing further from the truth. As Feingold noted, the former chief of Australia's armed forces, General Peter Cosgrove, has been arguing that the foreign troop presence has fueled terrorist activity in Iraq. Noting that Cosgrove has called for foreign troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2006, Feingold said, "Those remarks were constructive, and we need to be having this discussion here at home. I am putting a vision of when this ends on the table in the hope that we can get the focus back on our top priority, and that is keeping America and the American people safe."

While the White House bumbles deeper into the quagmire, it is Feingold who says he wants to take steps to establish an exit strategy that will "undermine the recruiting efforts and the unity of insurgents, encourage Iraqi ownership of the transition process and bolster the legitimacy of the Iraqi authorities, reassure the American people that our Iraq policy is not directionless and, most importantly, create space for a broader discussion of our real national security priorities."

[rodeodance]

1. I like the way he shows the contrast between Bush and Sen. Fiengold.

[flpoljunkie]

2. Putting a timeline for withdrawal in Iraq will also perhaps save the Army,

Army Reserves and National Guard. It has been noted in many articles that there is no way we can maintain this overextension of troop levels--even through 2006.

[Cha]

3. What was it that

bush spokeswitch, karen hughes, said in 2000 about Clinton in Kosovo?

That he needed a clear exit strategy..

"1. "You can support the troops, but not the president."

2. "Well, I think it's just a bad idea. What's going to happen is
they're going to be over there for 10, maybe 15 or 20 years."

3. "The president is once again releasing american military might
on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no
exit strategy. He has yet to tell the congress how much
this operation will cost.
And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about
how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not
make for a sound foreign policy."

4. "If we are going to committ american troops, we must be certain
they have a clear mission, an achievable goal, and an exit
strategy." (Me: I really like this one. My sentiments,
exactly!)"


Why doesn't some enterprising Politician bring up these haunting words from the bushwa And Blast them over the Frequencies?


http://www.bluegrassrules.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16483

[Cha]

4. Also...this from Feingold

is sooooooooooooo REFRESHING compared to one of my senator's tough talk on Iraq..oops, polls are going the OTHER WAY!