I write letters

In response to the piece in FDL that showed that a Democrat is getting upset about the US having to leave Iraq by the end of this year, I wrote the following paper letter to him:

Representative Gary Ackerman

Ranking Member - House Foreign Affairs Middle East and South Asia subcommittee

218-14 Northern Boulevard
Bayside, NY 11361

Subj: Agreement to withdraw from Iraq – Please do not break agreement

Distinguished Representative Ackerman,

It's come to my attention that with the Iraqi refusal to request that American troops remain in their country past the agreed-upon deadline of the end of this year, that you have disagreements with the statement “Most Americans believe we’re done in Iraq.”

In late 2008, the US and Iraq agreed that the US would leave a country that American occupation has left in vastly worse shape than it was in when the US invaded it nearly a decade ago. There is no mission, as far as I'm able to determine, that remains to be accomplished.

I don't believe Republican propaganda on the issue of the budget and the deficit either, but they're screaming and hollering about the deficit and our President apparently takes their dire warning quite seriously. How can the Democratic Party take Republican talking points on the deficit seriously AND advocate that the US remain in Iraq for longer than we agreed upon staying?

Personally, I think the President should tell our troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan to stand down and not conduct any operations until the debt limit is raised. That would place our operations there in the proper perspective. Republicans want to get all panicked about Iraqi insurgents and the Taliban gaining ground, good! Let 'em get panicked! That would create some useful pressure to be responsible about the debt limit.

There's absolutely no reason to break our 2008 agreement with Iraq to leave their country. Please keep to the agreed-upon schedule for withdrawal.