O/D/1 Blog
Mark Leon Goldberg at 5/16/2008 10:43AM
Mark Leon Goldberg at 5/15/2008 12:48PM
Travis Moore at 5/14/2008 5:07PM
Iraq
Polls indicate that the most pressing issue the next president will face On Day One is the war in Iraq. U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq for four years at a cost of more than $500 billion and significant sacrifice for soldiers and their families. More than four million Iraqis are displaced, and basic infrastructure, not to mention safety, for those that remain is tenuous.
On Day One, the next President should push legislation to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq
End the military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan and use the savings from the pentagon's budget to reinvest in universal health care, free college tuition, and other forms of social spending.
On Day One, the new administration must take action to immediately end the genocide in Darfur and the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and to empower women and girls in order to protect them from the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Just saw Charlie Wilson's War. Very interesting movie. The President should ask Congress to invest in building schools and infrastructure in Iraq so to not leave the country in shambles.
The next President needs to solve the war in Iraq, and do it within a week, or we need to leave. The next President should also demand some reparations for the work that the US has done to liberate the country-- perhaps hand us over one or two of their oil fields to bring down the price of oil.
Iraq is a test of American values and American resolve. This country used to stand for the proposition that we would bear any burden in the pursuit of freedom in the world. We cannot go back on that promise. We must continue to support and defend democratic movements in Iraq and continue to work towards the goal of a peaceful, democratic and tolerant Iraq. We cannot do that by walking away. To do so would be sign that our democratic values mean nothing.
"The most recent CBS/NYT poll asked people "From what you know about the U.S. involvement in Iraq, how much longer would you be willing to have large numbers of U.S. troops remain in Iraq
On day one the President would commit to the following:
1. Immediate withdrawal from Iraq (no more pussy footing, backpeddling, and collaborating with Republicans).
2. Single payer health care (no more pandering to the insurance industry).
3. A woman's right to choose with abortion on demand.
4. Maintaining indefinitely Social Security at its current level of support (with cost of living increases).
The next President needs a very specific plan for withdraw from Iraq.
We should immediately withdraw from Iraq. Then we need to get money back from all the contractors who were paid to provide clean water and electricity to the Iraqi people and who didn't do it.
