Vancouver For Peace
Clark County, Washington citizens and groups peacemaking together

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2005 VFP Lobbying Efforts - THERE WERE SOME POSITIVE RESPONSES!
Nov. 21 - Rep. Baird will cosponsor H.R. 3985, the Interrogation Procedures Act. This legislation is the House version of the language proposed by Senator McCain in the Senate. This is a very positive move in line with the requests that we have made of Rep. Baird in our petitions. Let him know that you appreciate this.
Nov. 18 - Rep. Baird's statement on congress' response to John Murtha's resolution to withdrawal from Iraq.
Comments: While we appreciate Rep. Baird speaking out on this, and remember clearly and with great appreciation that he was smart enough, courageous enough and moral enough to vote against the force authorization in 2002, we would much rather see him joining Rep. Murtha in his clear call for American troops to leave Iraq "at the earliest practicable date." AND to "pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy." Yes, it is time to use the “D”-word – diplomacy! We believe that more time to decide whether to support the content of Rep. Murtha's resolution is not required. It is time for Rep. Baird to wholeheartedly support Murtha's position NOW.

On Nov. 19, Mr. Bush called for alternatives to the current policy. We suggested alternatives starting almost 2 years ago in our "End the Occupation" petition that hundreds of you signed. Call Rep. Baird's attention to that petition which included the following elements. You can paste these into an email. We don't know these are the very best ways to state these ideas, but believe they contain the policy elements that can restore Iraqi sovereignty and assert real American values. Implementing these ideas won’t be easy, but we must accept the responsibilities the consequences of our actions have forced on us.

  1. Immediately withdrawal all U.S. forces from major population centers to remote temporary bases and shift to a limited role of border control and assuring Iraq’s territorial integrity.
  2. Turn over political responsibility for Iraq’s transition to the UN and seek the assistance of our allies to convene an international conference chaired by Secretary General Kofi Annan to develop a plan for restoring security and stabilizing Iraq’s transition to full sovereignty and free and fair elections (not under occupation).
  3. Publicly abandon plans for permanent US military bases in Iraq.
  4. Announce a definitive and speedy timetable for the complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq "at the earliest practicable date."
  5. Use currently allocated reconstruction funds to provide economic development under Iraqi control using Iraqi firms; terminate contracts with U.S. contractors; and provide transparent accounting of all U.S. contracts.
  6. Stop and reverse the illegal privatization of Iraqi businesses and assets. The Coalition Provisional Authority’s Order 39 clearly violates the international convention governing the behaviour of occupying forces, the Hague regulations of 1907 (the companion to the 1949 Geneva conventions, both ratified by the United States), as well as the US army's own code of war.
  7. Commit to long-term U.S. financial support for Iraqi-led reconstruction.

Please let Rep. Baird know what you think about taking a clear stand NOW for withdrawal and creating the conditions through diplomacy that will restore sovereignty and dignity to the Iraqi people and begin to right our terrible wrongs.

Nov. 16 - Rep. Baird sent a letter to Defense Sec. Rumsfeld asking that the retention of a private firm to create a database for DOD use in recruiting HS students be stopped and that a standard military recruiting Opt-Out letter be put on the DOD website. Not all of us agree with the entire letter, but this is an important and positive step. Thank Rep. Baird for safegaurding our children AND ask Senators Murray and Cantwell to follow suit. Read the letter.
 Nov. 8 - Rep. Baird co-sponsors H.Res. 505.
This Rep. Kucinich's bill requiring release of the papers of the White House Iraq Group.
Rep. Baird has also co-sponsored H.R. 375 calling for the release of documents related to the Downing Street Memo.
Read his letter to Mike Turnauer explaining his position.

You can support our lobbying efforts by calling your representatives on the issues below or by writing a letter to the editor. There are enough of us (~450 on email list) to make a real difference. Calling or a personal email is very effective.
We've met with the local staffs of Sentors Murray and Cantwell and Representative Baird several times this year. The latest meetings were: Senators - 9/26; Rep. Baird (Kelly Love) - 9/26. Hilary Cain, Rep. Baird's legislative director in DC, has also contacted us. We have asked for responses and will share those with our email lists.

We've asked them to use these Vancouver for Peace Principles to make decisions.

Our legislative requests of Rep. Baird and results from the last few months:

  1. Support Department of Peace Legislation that will be introduced in Sept. by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Rep. Baird is "generally supportive" of the bill. He has spoken to Rep. Kucinich about some concerns about how broad the bill is and "has encouraged him to offer a more tightly defined bill."
  2. Cosponsor the Count Every Vote Act (HR 939). Rep. Baird is cosponsoring this bill!
  3. Co-sponsor HR 952 “the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act'. Rep. Baird is cosponsoring a related bill: "HR 3003 to establish an independent commission to examine claims of detainee abuse." This was in direct response to hundreds of signatures on a Vancouver for Peace petition calling for exactly this.
  4. Cosponsor H.J.RES.55, the Homeward Bound Act.  It calls for a plan for withdrawal of all US forces by the end of this year and initiation of withdrawal by not earlier than Oct 1, 2006. Also, support the measures in our End the Iraq Occupation petition - see below. Click here to send a message to Brian Baird through the American Friends Service Committee. Rep. Baird is not supporting the Homeward Bound Act. As an alternative we have asked him to support one of these bills: Iraq Sovereignty Promotion Act Bill # H.R.3142 or No Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq Legislation Bill # H.CON.RES.197. Information is available here.
    Rep. Baird's response to Mike Turnauer about removing troops from Iraq.
    Nov 8 - We've also asked Rep. Baird to support     House Resolution 4232, the “End the War in Iraq Act of 2005” . This resolution, by Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), prohibits further spending on continuing the war in Iraq.  It allows spending to remove the troops, support diplomacy, and train and equip Iraqi security forces.  You can send an email at: http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ufpj/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1421.   You can read the bill at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:2:./temp/~c1093y6w2T::
  5. Cosponsor the SMART security platform ( H.CON.RES.158). Rep. Baird is cosponsoring this bill!
  6. Support the ONE campaign (www.one.org) to make poverty history by supporting its letter to President Bush.
  7. Playing a strong role in ending conflict in Israel-Palestine is a priority for justice and our national security. Please encourage and support renewed diplomatic effort to bring the Road Map plan to fruition.

We are grateful for the attention of Rep. Baird's local staff and Hilary Cain, his legislative director and, of course, Rep. Baird's support for several of our requests. We look forward to a continuing dialog that will inform us and Rep. Baird about how to work for our values in these areas.

Our legislative requests of Senators Murray and Cantwell:

  1. introduce Department of Peace legislation in the Senate.
  2. co-sponsorship of the Count Every Vote Act (S. 450 )
  3. co-sponsorship of S. 654 “ Convention Against Torture Implementation Act of 2005” (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.00654:).
  4. introduce companion legislation in the Senate to H.J.RES.55, the Homeward Bound Act. Also, support the measures in our End the Iraq Occupation petition - see below.
  5. introduce the SMART security platform in the Senate. The House version is H.CON.RES.158.
  6. Support the ONE campaign (www.one.org) to make poverty history by supporting its letter to President Bush.
  7. Playing a strong role in ending conflict in Israel-Palestine is a priority for justice and our national security. Please encourage and support renewed diplomatic effort to bring the Road Map plan to fruition.

Responses (we leave you to judge the sufficiency of these responses.)
Senator Murray
We received this response in email form in April. We haven't received a response to our last two meetings with local staff (July and Sept.).
Senator Cantwell
Signed this letter in Sept. 2005 asking the President questions. We have not received a direct response to our meetings in July and Sept. with local staff.
Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell voted for Senator McCain's amendment to the defense appropriations bill to regulate how U.S. armed forces treat captured enemies. (Oct. 2005) Text of amendment is found here.