Nearly 3,000 U.S. Troops Petition Congress To Stop Calls for Retreat

Via email:

Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) today accepted an Appeal for Courage from nearly 3,000 men and women serving on active duty, National Guard or Reserves fighting the Global War on Terror, most of whom are or have served in Iraq.

Boehner, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) , and five other Members of Congress accepted the petition from Bob Wallace, executive director of Veterans of Foreign Wars, who has been working with the appeal’s authors to garner support. The appeal says:

“As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my politically leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom back to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.”

The authors – Lt. Jason Nichols, a Navy Information Professional officer stationed in Baghdad and Staff Sgt. David Thul, currently serving with the 34th Infantry Division in Iraq through the Minnesota National Guard – started their petition on their website, www.appealforcourage.com.

“The consequences of failure in Iraq are too ominous to comprehend,” Boehner said. “We can’t give lip service to those young men and women who are fighting for our safety and security. It’s time to get a clean spending bill to the President’s desk and really support our troops.”

President Bush asked Congress 93 days ago to provide him an emergency troop funding bill that will aid in the implementation of the new strategy developed by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq . But more than three months later, Congress has failed to give the troops the resources they need to succeed. The latest proposal, which Boehner denounces as insulting to troops, piece meals funding for just 60 days before Congress again will decide whether troops should be funded.

“We should not treat our men and women in uniform like they are children who are getting a monthly allowance,” Boehner said. “Each day that passes without a clean troop funding bill puts our soldiers in greater danger and weakens their ability to fight al Qaeda. It is past time to put forth a clean bill that fully-funds American troops without putting handcuffs on our generals or attaching billions in excessive spending that is nothing more than an insult to our men and women in uniform.”

Matt Dole of LincolnLogsBlog wrote about this effort this morning...