Iraq Summer Delaware Take A Stand Day

Coverage of the Delaware Take A Stand event here wth some of the cowardly anonymous commentary here.
Some favorites:

"These bozos were all over the city yesterday with signs and protests. It doesn't particularly endear them to me when I am fighting traffic to get to work to pay taxes and they are standing around in shorts and t-shirts protesting something they know little about. Get a job!" How do you know they don't have jobs, pay taxes, support their children, or even have children in the military?
Just because they don't agree with your opinion with respect to this war doesn't make them worthless. Just like your ego-centric, high-handed, classist mentality doesn't make you worthless. Got to love the American way.

~

It takes every ounce of self control I have not to spit on these people when I see them. Nothing better to do then stand around and make our country look bad. Everybody is entitled to an opinion. And you don't have to agree with government. However, with the state of affairs the entire WORLD is in with terrorism and the like, we need to present a united front. A country appears weak when it's people are stand apart. These people may say they support the troops, but in my opinion (and I'm one of the troops) they slap me in the face every time they congregate and wave their signs. I wear the uniform to give THEM the freedom to trash me and my country.

~

Two of you said "if they only knew"...if they only knew WHAT? Please enlighten us, since you're so smart that you apparently know for a fact that none of the protesters have jobs and that they DON'T know whatever it is that you think they don't know. Do you happen to actually know any of the protesters, or just assume things about them? I do happen to know many of the protestors, because many of them are my friends, and I know that most of them DO work and that some of them are retired and spent many years working, paying taxes and fighting traffic, but now devote their lives to trying to stop senseless violence and the wasting of our tax dollars on a pointless war. I also know that many of them have been protesting war and other causes for decades have done extensive research into war funding, nuclear power and other issues. Yes, traffic does stop to look because they want to be noticed to get their message across - that is the point of a protest. These people have the guts to go out and stand up for what they believe in, and I have a lot of respect for that. I work 10+ hours a day, a 2nd job, I pay taxes, and I do not support this war. If I could get time off work right now, I would've been right there with my friends, as I have been in the past. People need to know that this war is wrong and has taken thousands of lives and wasted billions of tax dollars, and it needs to end now. That is what I know. Now please, tell us all what you mean

when you say "if they only knew"...I'm dying to know. SUPPORT THE TROOPS...BRING
THEM HOME NOW!

And

Oh, my gosh. Political protesters with POLITICAL MOTIVES!!!!!

This is an outrage. What's next, wars started under false pretense due to POLITICAL MOTIVES?

I just can't decide which is worse for our country:
A pointless war against 9/11 hijackers in a country with no 9/11 hijackers.
A pointless protest where somebody holds up a sign mentioning the war.

Take A Stand Day Is Coming Up - Tuesday, August 28th

Take A Stand Mike Castle!

A call to Delawareans to gather in Wilmington's Rodney Square on the 28th of August and send a message to our Republican Congressman - take us out of Iraq!

Take A Stand Mike Castle!
Across the country the Iraq Summer Campaign is gaining momentum as they prepare for their final events on August 28th. The politicians who continue to support an endless and reckless war will be called on to stand with their constituents and bring the troops home. In Delaware, Mike Castle has been feeling the heat all summer, and has started to whine about angry Delawareans constantly reminding him of his support for the president’s failed policy in Iraq. The Iraq Summer Campaign in Delaware is organizing a huge Take a Stand Day event in Rodney Square, including a town hall meeting and speeches from 5 – 7 pm as part of an all day festival with music, food, vendors, entertainment, and local community organizations. After building a movement all summer, the people of Delaware will gather in Rodney Square and demand that Mike Castle stand with his constituents to end the war.
The summer began in early June with the kick-off event outside Mike Castle’s office in Wilmington. More than thirty Delawareans gathered for the launch of the Iraq Summer campaign, and addressed speeches to Mike Castle reminding him to stand with the people of Delaware, not the failed policy of President Bush. After covering the demonstration outside his office, the reporters went to get Castle’s response. Even though Iraq Summer calls for a responsible redeployment of troops out of Iraq based on a reasonable timetable, and despite the fact that Iraq Summer activists had met with Castle and explained their position, Mike Castle chose to resort to the rhetoric of fear and misrepresentation, telling WHYY and the News Journal that the demonstrators “don’t care about the Iraqi people” because they were demanding immediate withdrawal. False, just like the reasons given for invading Iraq.
After Castle voted against a timetable to bring the troops home from Iraq, Delawareans marched to Castle’s house in Wilmington on July 19th, 2007. The leader of the march was Thomas Little, a retired Marine whose son is also a marine. Little started things off saying “I was quiet about the war at first. I was serving overseas in Africa and figured others with sons and daughters were better spokesmen. But, I came home two years ago and saw that this war was totally out of hand. It is clearly not winnable and the troops are daily targets in a civil war. Keep them safe. Bring them home. Then we can better sort out Iraq.” The demonstrators marched and chanted, carrying a banner that read, “Rep. Castle - You Got Us Into Iraq, Now Get Us Out!” Despite the nearly fifty fed-up Delawareans who marched and spoke out to express their disapproval of Castle’s obstinate refusal to stand with his constituents, no major media covered the event, revealing the entrenched power and deference Mike Castle has gathered after decades in office.

Following on the march, the Iraq Summer Campaign organized a Report Card delivery at Castle’s Dover office. The Report Card showed that, despite Castle’s claims to disagree with the President’s strategy on the Iraq, in ten of eleven votes Castle towed the party line and voted to support President Bush’s disastrous Iraq policy. The only time he voted to end the war was in the purely symbolic resolution against the President Bush’s surge on February 16th, 2007. Whatever credit he deserved for this move was swamped by the fact that 91% of the time Castle voted with President Bush instead of against ending the war. The bottom line: Castle gets a failing grade.
With Congress going into recess for August, outraged constituents decided to welcome Mike Castle home. Under scorching heat, the Iraq Summer Campaign gathered in Rodney Square. They collected more than one hundred statements of conscience calling on Castle to end the war, gave out yard signs and window signs reading “Support the Troops, End the War,” and successfully recruited new activists to pressure Castle to end the war.
On the evening of August 6th at Wilmington Technical Community College, several members of the Iraq Summer Campaign happened to run into Mike Castle at a home buying and foreclosure event. Bill Shafarman of Wilmington grilled Castle on his failure to end the war. Mr. Shafarman also asked Castle why he had refused to answer Iraq Summer’s numerous invitations to Take a Stand Day on August 28th. Castle said that he would “be away” and did not want to reschedule so that his constituents could express their concerns about his voting to support a reckless, endless war.
During the question and answer session at the end of the event, Rudi Batzell, a volunteer with the Iraq Summer Campaign, stood up and asked Mr. Castle how he could justify spending billions of dollars a month in Iraq when hardworking Delawareans couldn’t afford a home and many who owned a home were facing foreclosure. In his response to the question, Castle stated that “this war just needs to grind to the end.” Castle doesn’t seem to understand that American lives and resources are being destroyed in the grinder.
In response to Castle’s blatant disregard in his voting and in his words for the lives of our soldiers and the well being of the American people, the Iraq Summer Campaign is hosting Take a Stand Day on August 28th in Rodney Square, Wilmington. From 5-7 pm, Take a Stand Day will feature an “empty chair” Town Hall in which Delawareans address a Congressman who refuses to listen to his constituents, and speeches by local leaders and activists. There will be an all-day festival in Rodney Square, including food, entertainment, live music, vendors, and community organizations. For information about Take a Stand Day or to register as a vendor or community organization, contact Sarah Jankowski of the Iraq Summer Campaign at 202-425-0978 or email at delaware2@iraqsummer.org. Mike Castle must stand with the people of Delaware and bring the troops home. Castle believes he can ignore his constituents. Maybe he’s been in office so long he’s forgotten he represents the people who elected him. Let Mike Castle know how you feel and help build the movement to end the war by attending Take a Stand Day on August 28th!

Sarah Jankowski writes:

Our Yard Signs have FINALLY arrived!
Guess what that means....
Sign Making& Delivery Party!!!

RSVP to help distribute Signs -
** There will be food!

Americans Against Escalation in Iraq
What: Sign Making & Distribution Party
When: THIS Sunday, July 22nd, 11am -1pm
Where: Local AFSCME Union in New Castle
296 Churchman's Road, New Castle, DE 19720
Why: To show Congressman Castle that we want him to bring our troops home!
*Also, if you would like a sign, Please reply to this email and let me know.
(If you live in an apartment and would like a Window Sign, we can do that too).

*****
OTHER FUN EVENTS: (AKA Plugs for People we Like)
The First Unitarian Church - Movie Showing
730 Halstead Road, Sharpley, Wilmington, DE 302-478-2384
"Iraq for Sale" - Wednesday July 18th at 7pm
"The Ground Truth" - Wednesday July 25th at 7pm

Pacem in Terris- Check out the Website to find a Weekly Vigil near your house.
Show up once or weekly.
www.depaceminterris.org
Call 302-656-2721

ACORN - Celebrate the hard work done toward the Minimum Wage Increase
Call Darlene Battle at 302-656-3699 for more info.
$8 For Busride to DC and Lunch

Check out these amazing blogs:
Delaware Way: http://delawareway.blogspot.com/
Delaware Liberal: http://delawareliberal.wordpress.com/
Delaware Watch: http://delawarewatch.blogspot.com/
*Also Check out Dana's Radio Show, Progressive Voices on WVUD 91.3
from 7-8pm on Mondays
TommyWonk: http://tommywonk.blogspot.com/

Iraq Summer Should Bear Fruit

via Atrios - GOPer nervous about the war (link):

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are growing increasingly nervous defending the war in Iraq, and Democrats more confident in their attempts to end it.

More than a year before the 2008 elections, it is a political role reversal that bodes ill for President Bush's war strategy, not to mention his recent statement that Congress' role should merely be "funding the troops."

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, made that clear Friday when he dismissed any suggestion that it could be November before a verdict is possible on the effects of the administration's current troop increase.

"September is the month we're looking at," he said unequivocally.

Yet as the party leader, McConnell is more circumspect than many Republicans in his characterization of the administration's war strategy. Asked earlier in the week whether he agreed that the conflict had been badly mismanaged — as Sen. John McCain has said for months — McConnell declined to respond.

Not so Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo.

"The strategy we had before was not the right strategy," he told reporters at midweek. "We should have had a counterinsurgency strategy."

By his remarks, Bond made it clear he meant the strategy was wrong from the time Saddam Hussein was deposed until this past January, when Gen. David Petraeus was installed as top military commander. That's a span of nearly four years.

Asked who bore responsibility for the error, Bond said, "Ultimately, obviously, the president."

Should any blame fall on Congress — under Republican control the entire time?

"Congress was not running the war," Bond replied.

It is not only the mood that is changing among Republicans. So, too, the rhetoric.

"Cut and run," has largely come and gone as an insult to hurl at Democrats, as Republicans themselves contemplate a change in course.

It also is the mission they envision changing as they try to salvage what they can from a war that has taken the lives of more than 3,600 U.S. troops and cost more than $400 billion.

Their once-clear vision of Iraq as a stable, self-sustaining democracy is faded.

"Today's mission is focused on al-Qaida," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., reflecting what other administration allies in Congress say privately.

In this view, the main U.S. military focus should be on preventing Iraq from falling under terrorist control. One Republican senator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the shift in talk of a military objective was a prelude to a change to a strategy that would pull U.S. troops back from a civil war between Sunni and Shiites.

But focusing attention on al-Qaida raises familiar questions: Were terrorists present in Iraq before the 2003 invasion and what would happen if U.S. forces departed?

According to several officials, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and McCain engaged in a brief, impromptu debate touching on that point recently at a private meeting of the rank and file.

Voinovich said the Sunni and Shiites in Iraq would together drive al-Qaida from their country if the U.S. were not there. McCain took the opposite view. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, noting that the meeting was private.

If Republicans struggling to regroup — with or without the president they have followed through four years of war — Democrats are on the march.

"Time and the American people are ... on our side," Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, said last week. The Nevada Democrat spoke in defeat, after Republicans — whatever their private misgivings — blocked a final vote on a troop withdrawal deadline.

Only four of 49 Republican senators defected in last week's showdown. The group did not include Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Pete Domenici of New Mexico and other senior lawmakers who are seeking a change in course.

Many of the most nervous Republicans are seeking re-election in 2008, and it was a measure of the Democrats' political confidence that Reid abruptly halted debate on the war once the troop withdrawal measure was scuttled.

Several officials said he did not want any of several Republican or bipartisan alternatives to come to a vote. His objective was to deny a political escape hatch to any GOP senator who would not support the Democratic withdrawal measure. These officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss strategy.

It was only 13 months — and one election — ago that Reid was the one hoping to avoid a vote on a troop withdrawal. Then, Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis., angered Reid by insisting on a vote on a fixed withdrawal deadline of July 1, 2007.

Democratic strategists fretted about the impact on senators seeking re-election and challengers to Republicans in swing states.

The plan drew the support of 13 Democrats. Reid was not among them, nor were the Democratic presidential contenders currently clamoring for the support of anti-war voters.

The public, it turned out, was more unhappy about the war than the Democratic strategists understood. Despite their tentativeness, Democrats won control of the House and Senate in an election in which Iraq played a large role.

"Now it's the unified Democratic position," Kerry correctly e-mailed his supporters last week.

"In May, Republicans were dismissing even tough questions about the escalation. Now, they're falling all over themselves to distance themselves from the president."

Iraqi sects are locked in power struggle

BAGHDAD -(link) At an intersection in the Sadiyah section of the capital, near the tip of the thumb formed by a sharp bend in the Tigris River, stands a stark example of what underlies Iraq's sectarian war and why any peaceful outcome will not be determined by U.S. combat power.

On a recent afternoon, a convoy of Humvees brought Army Brig. Gen. John Campbell for a look. The deputy commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division did not like what he saw.

To the east of a north-south boulevard the Americans have dubbed Route Spruce, Campbell surveyed the eerie emptiness of an enclave that until recently was populated mainly by Sunnis. It now resembles a ghost town.

"It looks devastated," he told an Associated Press reporter who accompanied him.

On display were rows of abandoned shops, empty homes, piles of debris. All were evidence of the retreat of hope for a reconciling anytime soon between two rival religious sects — Shiites and Sunnis — in a desperate battle for power.

Here, you can sense the quandary facing the Bush administration, bedeviled by an unpopular war with no end in sight after more than four years and at least 3,631 U.S. military deaths.

The Sunnis in Sadiyah have been driven away — Campbell called it a "purge" — by encroaching extremists of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia that Campbell says is using gangland-style tactics to gain ground. Sunni extremists affiliated with the al-Qaida terrorist group are beginning to slip into the same neighborhood.

The problems in Sadiyah show how complex this war is. They also show why many U.S. military officers in Iraq believe they must sustain the troop buildup — despite strong opposition by many in Congress — well beyond September. That is when an important review of the buildup's results is due.

And they expose the deep divisions in the Iraqi government, including a persistent fear among the majority Shiites that the Sunnis are determined to regain the dominant position they held under the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

On Saturday, a group of American officers led by the 1st Cavalry's other deputy commanding general, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, met at an American base in the southern reaches of Sadiyah with Khalid H. Rasheed, an adviser to the Sunni deputy prime minister, Salam al-Zubaie. Brooks pressed the case for Iraqi government action in Sadiyah as well as in the even more troublesome area of Doura, just to the east.

Brooks and Col. Ricky Gibbs, commander of the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, which is in charge in Sadiyah and throughout a larger area of southern Baghdad known as Rashid, made the case to Khalid for the national government to hire more local Sunnis as police and to improve local public services.

"There's not enough Iraqi Army (troops) to go around," Gibbs told the AP, so the government needs to authorize more Sunni volunteers for the police force. Also, the government needs to put more money into rebuilding the area, starting with electricity, water and sewage services that have been devastated, he said.

The American military can help in the short term, but they cannot be expected to provide the ultimate answer. "It has to be an Iraqi solution," Gibbs said.

What Brooks and Gibbs heard from Khalid, a Sunni, was a familiar complaint, that the problem is with the Shiites.

"The root of the problem is related directly to the prime minister himself," Khalid said, referring to Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite. "Sectarian-driven advisers" are steering the prime minister away from an accommodation with the Sunnis and delaying efforts to improve conditions in Sadiyah, Khalid said.

So when local Sunnis volunteer to join forces with the Americans against al-Qaida, al-Maliki's advisers tell him, "`OK, look, it's a plot to topple you or overthrow the government,'" Khalid said, speaking through an interpreter.

In a similar vein, the Sunni commander of Iraqi Army forces in the area, Brig. Gen. Feras Abdul Qader, told Campbell during his visit on Thursday that Shiites in Sadiyah are complicit in helping the Mahdi Army extremists to drive out the Sunnis, whose homes are then sold by the Mahdi Army to Shiite families.

Feras said the Shiite locals are either collaborating with the extremists or are cowering in fear.

"Either way, they are helping the insurgents — either directly or indirectly," Feras said through an interpreter.

Adding to the mix is the presence in Sadiyah of an Iraqi national police unit, known as the "Wolf Brigade," that Campbell said has a well-earned reputation for human rights violations. He said he is leery of the brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Salaam Jewad Kadhim, a Shiite. At a meeting in Salaam's office, Campbell pointedly cautioned him against missteps that can ruin his credibility with the locals.

Accompanying Campbell to Sadiyah was the top Iraqi Army commander for Baghdad, Gen. Abud Qanbar. He said in an AP interview that the area's problems show why it is too early for U.S. troops to leave.

"We need a lot of work to build our forces and make them stronger than they are today," he said through an interpreter. "We need them (U.S. troops) to be around us" for many months to come.

Reminded of the pressure in Congress to pull out troops soon, Abud counseled patience.

"It needs a lot of study before that decision can be made," he said. "Maybe at the beginning of the year or the middle of next year" it will be time to begin pulling out, he said.

Iraq Summer Delaware Pic Made The Moveon.org Fundraiser!

Dear MoveOn member,
On Tuesday night, Republicans in the Senate had to pick a side: They were either with the American people or with President Bush.

They chose Bush. They blocked a key vote to end the war. And we're going to make them pay for that choice.

As senators go home for August break, our partners at Americans Against Escalation in Iraq have put together the biggest campaign since the beginning of the war. It's called Iraq Summer, and it's going to present the Republicans with another choice: End the war, or face political extinction.

Iraq Summer hit the ground a few weeks ago. 90 organizers—including Iraq vets and military families—are busy building strong networks on the ground, organizing events and putting up hard-hitting advertising.

It's really important to keep this organizing going all the way through August. So we're aiming to raise $250,000 for AAEI and MoveOn's Iraq Summer campaign by the end of this week. Can you chip in $25 to turn up the heat on pro-war politicians—and make sure they pay in their home states for voting to keep the war going?

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/iraqsummer.html?id=10843-6345145-os173H&t=3

If we want to end the war, we need to make it politically impossible for Republicans to stay the course.

And that's exactly what Iraq Summer is doing. Iraq Summer organizers are showing up at town hall meetings and asking tough questions, holding rallies, and training local volunteers on working with the media.

In Maine the Iraq Summer team kicked off its efforts with a rally in the beginning of July. Since then, Iraq Summer and MoveOn members have kept up constant pressure—pushing Senator Snowe over the edge.1 She recently signed on as a co-sponsor of the Levin-Reed Amendment to bring most of our troops home by April.
In Kentucky they staged a protest outside of a speech given by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a few weeks ago and made the local news—proving that voters in Kentucky want our troops home.2 Soon after, they launched a major ad campaign in Kentucky against him. 3 His approval ratings continue to plummet.
Last week in New Hampshire, Iraq Summer organized a letter delivery to Senator Sununu's office and added to the pressure he's been feeling on the war. They made the local news last week and then were at it again this week, helping out with our citizen counter-filibuster.4
And the field directors are a truly dedicated and impressive bunch.

Susan D. is a field director in Iowa. She's the mother of an Iraq war veteran and speaks passionately about the toll that this war is taking on families across the country.
Jackie R. is a field director in New Mexico. She's dedicating all her energy to ending the war. Jackie comes from a conservative Cuban family and will be working in Latino communities to put real pressure on Representative Heather Wilson and Senator Pete Domenici to make sure they do more than complain about the war—they vote to end it.
Joshua L. is an Iraq veteran and he's leading our work in Illinois. He's concentrating on making sure Representatives LaHood, Johnson and Kirk start voting with their constituents to end the war. He's already been making waves at town hall meetings.5
Can you chip in $25 to help MoveOn and Iraq Summer run the biggest campaign in history to end the war?

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/iraqsummer.html?id=10843-6345145-os173H&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Tom, Eli, Jennifer and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Thursday, July 19th, 2007

Sources:

1. Anti-War Group Rallies In Bangor, WCSH NBC Affliate in Portland Maine, July 5, 2007
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=65371

2. McConnell speaks in Oldham, notes public's frustration with Iraq war, The Courier-Journal, July 3, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2807

3. McConnell targeted in another anti-war ad, Associated Press, July 13, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2808

4. War critics decry Sununu,Seacost Online, July 18, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2809

5. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2810




Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by our 3.2 million members. We have no corporate contributors, no foundation grants, no money from unions. Our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. If you'd like to support our work, you can give now at:

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Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Mat Marshall Gives A Blow By Blow Of The Adverturous Delivery Of The Iraq Summer Letter To Castle

Mat Marshall of the Soapbox blog has written a really entertaining account of the delvery of the letter to Mike Castle at his office. You can read about it here (link).

WGMD's Blog has a Sussex Conversation on the War In Iraq

For those of us who want to know some of our fellow strident anti-war activist in Sussex here are a couple (link):
Maria Evans writes, Oh Bama
From the politically inexperienced and historically challenged brain of Barack Obama:

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

Maybe Obama should save that gem of a speech for when he visits the Balkans or Israel.

And her commentors write back. Hopefully we can corral a few for a trip to Mike Castle beach house for the next protest.

Making A Difference!!

Iraq Summer Success (link)

Washington - With the war in Iraq roiling Congress, antiwar groups are targeting dozens of lawmakers – many facing tough reelection races in 2008 – in a bid to peel off enough Republicans to force President Bush to end the war there.
Organizers claim that breaks in GOP ranks over war strategy in recent weeks are a result of more heat from home – and that they helped to generate it. As debate resumes this week, they predict, more defections will occur.

"We're running a political campaign with a long horizon," says Tom Matzzie of MoveOn.org Political Action, who is managing the "Iraq Summer" campaign for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI). "We'll gain more ... momentum over the next few weeks, and more Republicans will break."

Lawmakers say they're making up their own minds, independent of antiwar-group pressure. It may be coincidence that Sen. Pete Domenici (R) announced his opposition to Mr. Bush's war strategy two days after AAEI launched its campaign in his home state of New Mexico – despite the group's taking credit for the switch.

Seven Senate Republicans – six up for reelection in 2008 – voted last week against the Bush administration's position on a proposal to mandate longer time at home for US forces. If passed, the measure would have limited Bush's ability to redeploy units to a war zone.

Senator Domenici was not one of the defectors on that vote. But this week he is expected to back a proposal to require the Bush administration to revise US policy in accordance with the 2006 recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.

Antiwar organizers in his home state say that's not enough. "The ... amendment [on the Iraq Study Group] is not as strong" as one that sets a timetable for the redeployment of US forces out of a combat role in Iraq, says Greg Richardson, who is organizing the Iraq Summer campaign in New Mexico. "Over 70 percent of Americans no longer support the war, and Senator Domenici is out of touch," he said in a phone interview.

On Thursday, the House voted 223 to 201 to begin drawing down US forces in Iraq. Only four Republicans joined most Democrats on that vote, well short of the GOP votes needed to overturn a presidential veto.

But House Democrats plan to hold more votes on Iraq, which antiwar activists say provide grist for them. To counteract them, House Republican leaders sent their members home for July 4 recess with a briefing paper on the Iraq Summer campaign. The countermessage, said a GOP aide, is "it's not a groundswell of revolt, but an organized campaign by the MoveOn crowd to put pressure on" GOP lawmakers.

"This is a really big issue, and people are voting their conscience. They don't intend to be politically intimidated," says Rep. Tom Cole (R) of Oklahoma, who heads the House GOP reelection campaign. "Republicans broadly think that we should not be micromanaging the war from here or undercutting the mission, and that we should give the surge a chance to work."

The Iraq Summer campaign is modeled after the 1964 Freedom Summer civil rights project. It claims 100 organizers in 15 states and 40 congressional districts, plus a $9 million budget. The campaign launched July 4, but activists since January have pored over polls and lawmakers' statements to identify 60 members of Congress most likely to break with the Bush administration over the war.

It's too early to know whether it is making a difference, analysts say. "Some of these advertising buys they're doing are so small that I wonder how many voters actually see them," says Jennifer Duffy, who covers Senate races for the Cook Political Report. "They're creating a lot of noise, but I don't know that they can take that victory lap yet."

This week, the focus is on the Senate, where a $648.8 billion defense bill is the vehicle for war-related amendments. On Friday, GOP Sens. John Warner and Richard Lugar proposed one that would require the White House to develop a plan to redeploy US forces out of a combat role in Iraq by October. It does not set a timetable for implementation.

Topping the list of GOP senators whom antiwar groups see as vulnerable in '08 are Sens. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, John Sununu of New Hampshire, and Susan Collins of Maine.

In Maine, activists are stepping up organizing to move their two GOP senators into the antiwar column. Last week, Sen. Olympia Snowe said she supports a timetable for redeployment of US forces.

"If politicians can't see the light, they can feel the heat," says Tom Andrews, national director of Win Without War and a former US representative from Maine. After Snowe's announcement, "the pressure is increasing exponentially on Senator Collins," he says.

Collins notes that she and Senator Warner led Senate opposition in December to Bush's plans to "surge" 30,000 troops into Iraq. "The idea that a public-relations campaign is having some impact is absurd and contrary to the facts," she says.

In Minnesota, Senator Coleman faces a barrage of TV ads from antiwar groups. He voted in support of the amendment to put limits on troop redeployment, bucking the White House position. That vote "had nothing to do with pressure," he says, citing the fact that troops from Minnesota were among the first to see extended tours of duty in Iraq.

The antiwar ads against him "aren't reaching people," he says. "They haven't made any movement in the polls."

In September, after Gen. David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, and the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, give Congress a full report on the outcome of the surge, Coleman predicts there will be a shift in mission for US forces. "In September, we're going to make some hard decisions, and I'm prepared to make them then," he says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** * ACORN * **
come and Celebrate

The victorious win of the
Federal Minimum Wage Increase
Now let's celebrate in DC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S House of Representatives
want to thank
ACORN

When: Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Where: Bus Leaving from Peoples Settlement Assoc. 408 East 8th Street
Leaving 9:30am Returning: 5:30pm
Destination: Washington, DC


COST: $8.00 for Transportation and Lunch
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL DARLENE

302-656-3699

Americans Against Escalation in Iraq March To Mike Castle's House

Iraq Summer Delaware
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACTION: This Thursday Night, July 19th, 7p.m.This may be the most important action. If you can only make it to one event, come to this one.Rally and March to Castle's House:Protest Castle's Support of War and Vote last Thursday to keep the troops in Iraq
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What: March and Rally: Protesting Castle's Support for President Bush's Reckless Iraq War Policy Who: Delawareans United for Change and Action!Coordinated by: Americans Against Escalation in Iraq
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where: From Saint Ann's Catholic Church to Congressman Mike Castle's Wilmington Home
Begin: Saint Ann's Catholic Church- Meet by 6:55pm 2013 Gilpin Ave.The Corner of Gilpin and Union, Not far from Trolley Square
End: Congressman Mike Castle's Wilmington Home
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When: This Thursday, July 19th at 7pm
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Why: Because Congressman Castle voted to continue supporting Bush's Reckless Iraq War Policy and did NOT vote to bring our troops home; we must show him that he was wrong. Conressman Castle is accountable to the people of Delaware.
Delawareans want Castle to Take A Stand and bring the troops home!