Schakowsky Calls on President and Congress to End Iraq War

SCHAKOWSKY CALLS ON PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS TO END IRAQ WAR

WASHINGTON, DC--U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), founding member of the Out of Iraq Caucus, marked the fourth anniversary of the war by calling on Congress to take immediate action to put an end to the war in Iraq.

"It is time for the United States to redeploy its combat forces from Iraq," said U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky on the 4th anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

"It is past time to acknowledge that any further military action on a battlefield we should never have entered in the first place, is doomed for failure. The Bush Administration has left us with only bad options, but the worst is to continue to send our young men and women to die in the meat-grinder that is Iraq.

This week the House of Representatives will vote to set a hard date to end the war at the latest by August 2008. As someone who voted against the war, and as a founder of the Out of Iraq caucus, I would have preferred to redeploy our troops long ago. I am pleased, however, that for the first time, the debate is no longer about "if" but rather "when" the US military presence in Iraq will end. This is an important first step on the road home for our troops.

The American people are clear about their desire to end the mounting loss of life and treasure in Iraq. A vote in favor of the supplemental is responsive to them and is at least a partial victory for the peace activists who have opposed the war from the start.

The choice is clear: we can either allow the President to continue his open-ended war or we can demand accountability by putting an end to this misguided war. The stakes are enormously high. If we fail to pass this plan, the President will pass his own supplemental that will continue this war indefinitely with absolutely no end in sight.

As much as I want an immediate redeployment, we cannot afford to squander this opportunity to set a hard date to end this disastrous war. The alternative is unbearable....