Our OpEd: Telling Pelosi to Fight
Jon Rainwater’s Opinion Editorial calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s to push for the kind of credible, cost effective alternatives that Afghanistan Ambassador Karl Eikenberry argued for ran today in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Rep. Pelosi is one of the most powerful people in the country, so if you live in San Francisco, Rep. Pelosi’s district, you are in a unique position to make an impact on our course in this war. So to all you San Franciscans, I am posting an email Rebecca Griffin sent to our San Francisco supporters today.
Supporters of strong nonmilitary options in Afghanistan need a champion in Congress, and your representative is a prime candidate. That’s why we took our message to the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle today, calling on Speaker Pelosi to stand up and fight for a better plan for Afghanistan and America. We need your help TODAY to make sure Speaker Pelosi gets our message. Please email her to tell her you agree that it’s time for her to speak up.
San Francisco, your representative is one of the most influential politicians in America, so that means you are uniquely positioned to make a difference. Speaker Pelosi is already moving in our direction. She told the media that she is done selling the war in Afghanistan to Congress, and called for cutting wasteful Pentagon spending. Now we need her to sell real alternatives to the war in Afghanistan to Congress, the Democratic Party, and the American people.
President Obama asked Congress yesterday for $160 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq next year, and another $33 billion now to send 30,000 more troops into an unwinnable war. We know there are better options out there, and the administration hasn’t given them full consideration. Afghanistan Ambassador and former military commander Karl Eikenberry told the State Department in secret cables, “we should weigh whether a relatively small additional investment in programs for development and government would yield results that, if not as visible as those from sending more troops, would move us closer to achieving our goals at far lesser cost and risk, both in lives and dollars.”
There’s a better way, and we have a real opportunity to point Congress in that direction. Speaker Pelosi is paying close attention to the public sentiment on Afghanistan, and she and her fellow Democrats are worried about reelection. Click here to tell Speaker Pelosi that supporting an alternative for Afghanistan is the smart, moral and politically savvy thing to do.
Thank you for building our power at a critical time.
And when you are finished sending your email (which takes all of about 30 seconds) please take just a few moments to send a letter to the Chronicle’s editor too. Yes, this takes a bit more time than just clicking to send a message, but it is so powerful. You can do it here.
The letters to the editor section is the second most widely read page of the newspaper. By sending in your letters supporting our Opinion Editorial, you help our message reverberate and make a stronger, more lasting impression. Please click here to send yours in:
Even if yours doesn’t get published, your submission will make it more likely that someone else’s will. It will take just a few minutes, and it will make such a difference. And here’s that link again.
