More War

Yesterday, the US House of Representatives voted to continue the high number of US troops in Iraq and to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan. They voted to continue to the drone bombings in Pakistan. They voted to continue killing innocent people, and they did not vote for a workable solution to the problems these countries are facing. They voted for destruction.

They voted for an appalling waste of money.

From a Code Pink email:

Cong. Lynn Woolsey agreed. "This bill has no exit strategy," she told us, "and it allocates over 90% of the money for the military and less than 10% for development. This even contradicts General Petraeus' own counter-insurgency doctrine of 80% non-military and 20% military."

But some of our elected officials voted against this hideous waste of money that will kill many innocents. Their names are below. They are my heroes / heroines.

Nay Votes on H R 2346, Supplemental Appropriations, 5/14/09

Baldwin
Capuano
Clarke
Cohen
Conyers
Cooper
Costello
Doggett
Edwards (MD)
Ellison
Farr
Filner
Honda
Inslee
Kagen
Kaptur
Kucinich
Lee (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lofgren, Zoe
Markey (MA)
Massa
Matsui
McDermott
McGovern
Michaud
Payne
Pingree (ME)
Polis (CO)
Schakowsky
Serrano
Shea-Porter
Speier
Thompson (CA)
Tierney
Towns
Tsongas
Velazquez
Frank (MA)
Grayson
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Miller, George
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Waters
Watson
Weiner
Welch
Woolsey

From Information Clearing House email:

WASHINGTON - May 14 - Speaking on a Supplemental Appropriations bill that would continue to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement:

"America went to war against Iraq based on a lie. We were told back in 2002 that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The previous administration even pursued torture to try to extract false confessions in order to justify the war. It is time to tell the truth. The truth is we should not have prosecuted a war against the Iraqi people. The truth is the Democratic Senate could have stopped the Iraq war in 2002. The truth is we Democrats were given control of Congress in 2006 to end the war. The truth is this bill continues a disastrous war, which has cost the lives of thousands of our soldiers. The truth is the occupation has fueled the insurgency. The truth is the Iraq war will cost the American and the Iraqi people trillions of dollars and as many as a million innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of this war.

"Don't tell the American people that you are ending the war by continuing to fund the war. Don't tell the American people that the war will end when their plans leave 50, 000 troops in Iraq. Don't tell the American people that the way out of Afghanistan is to escalate our presence.

"Get out of Iraq. Get out Afghanistan. Come home America."

AND….. we are going to spend $2.3 billion on Pakistan for “economic and security assistance”!! HA!! It is likely we are going to help them buy weapons, or build weapons, that will be used against their neighbors or maybe even US. I guess that makes it all more sporting – supplies weapons and training to our future, or current enemies. That is certainly what the US did when it armed and trained bin Laden’s group, and they did it again in Iraq.

Our tax dollars are going for bullets and bombs both used by the US military and used ON the US military. Insane.

Well, the thing to do next week is to call Senator Burr and Senator Hagen and tell them that I do not want more funding for wars, or more funding for Pakistan to make more war themselves. I doubt they will listen.