IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ

By Julie Padilla

The United States must begin immediate withdrawal from Iraq. The U.S. must also cease all covert and overt attempts to control the government, economy, or resources of Iraq. I will work to change our foreign policy so that is about U.S. cooperation with the world community, not dominance and so that it is about fostering human well-being for all, not a wealthy few.

Getting the U.S. troops out of Iraq is a first step and must be followed by getting the bases out. The U.S. must pay for rebuilding the tremendous war damage it has done to Iraq, including the attacks of 1991, which destroyed water, sewer and electrical systems in violation of international law that prohibits the targeting of civilians. The U.S. must also pay compensation to Iraqis for their personal losses including family member deaths, injuries and personal property.

The U.S. must also cease all covert and overt attempts to control the government, economy, or resources of Iraq. During its illegal occupation, the U.S. has established laws that restructure the Iraqi economy and give U.S. corporations access to Iraqi resources. Iraqi belongs to its people, not to the United States or foreign companies. The Iraqis must be free to control their own resources, economy, and government.

From the start of the most recent (March, 2003) U.S. invasion of Iraqi through the end of January, 2005, the war and occupation have cost U.S. taxpayers over $152 billion dollars; nearly $200 million of that came from Sacramento according to the National Priorities Project http://www.nationalpriorities.org. We need that money in our community for schools, for affordable housing, for health care, for the environment.

The agenda of the Bush administration is to assure military dominance of the world to assure the access of U.S. corporations to the world's physical and human resources. The U.S. already has military bases in over 130 countries and military operations in others. Bush is threatening Syria and Iran. This agenda, unchallenged by the Democratic leadership in Congress, is not morally acceptable to the world or to the American public and it is clearly not affordable.

I will work to change our foreign policy so that is about U.S. cooperation with the world community, not dominance and so that it is about fostering human well-being for all, not a wealthy few.