More Steps Towards Ending The War In Afghanistan

President Obama is days away from announcing the inevitable buckling under to the military-industrial complex and giving the generals more young Americans as cannon fodder for a useless and unwinnable war, that most Americans do not support. So who in Congress really wants to end the war and who's content just leaving it up to the military to do whatever they think is best? We saw that last June only 32 Democrats had the cojones to oppose Obama's supplemental war budget, which allowed continued expenditures for war without responsible funding. In other words, Obama continued the Bush policies he campaigned against which charge war expenses to borrowing from the Chinese and against our great grandchildren's future. Unlike the deficits run up for the stimulus and healthcare reform, this is completely wasteful spending which only impoverishes America and stimulates nothing... at least nothing worthwhile.

David Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, along with other House Democrats are holding Obama to his vow to pay for wars and not shove the expenses off on future generations the way Bush did. Obey warned him that sending more troops would be a mistake that could "wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy."

"There ain't going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan," House Appropriations Chairman David Obey told ABC News in an exclusive interview. "If they ask for an increased troop commitment in Afghanistan, I am going to ask them to pay for it."

Obey, a Democrat from Wisconsin, made it clear that he is absolutely opposed to sending any more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and says if Obama decides to do that, he'll demand a new tax-- what he calls a "war surtax"-- to pay for it.

"On the merits, I think it is a mistake to deepen our involvement," Obey said. "But if we are going to do that, then at least we ought to pay for it. Because if we don't, if we don't pay for it, the cost of the Afghan war will wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy."

...Obey argued that the tax should be paid by all taxpayers, with rates ranging from 1 percent for lower wage earners to 5 percent for the wealthy.

The White House won't be able to count on Obey's support the next time the president seeks funding for the war.

And that brings us to the bipartisan letter from Jim McGovern (D-MA), signed by 50 Democrats and 7 Republicans advocating an end to the occupation of Afghanistan. This is a significant expansion of the 32 Democrats who voted against funding in June. The signatories are:

Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)
Jim McDermott (D-WA)
Pete Stark (D-CA)
Bruce Braley (D-IA)
Phil Hare (D-IL)
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
John Olver (D-MA)
Jose Serrano (D-NY)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Jerry Costello (D-IL)
Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM)
Alan Grayson (D-FL)
Peter Welch (D-VT)
Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Ed Pastor (D-AZ)
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
John Lewis (D-GA)
Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Richard Neal (D-MA)
Diane Watson (D-CA)
John Conyers, Jr (D-MI)
Steve Cohen (D-TN)
Keith Ellison (D-MN)
Donna Edwards (D-MD)
Laura Richardson (D-CA)
Michael Honda (D-CA)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Dan Maffei (D-NY)
Steve Kagen (D-WI)
Michael Capuano (D-MA)
Sam Farr (D-CA)
Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
Luis Guitierrez (D-IL)
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
Jared Polis (D-CO)
Mike Michaud (D-ME)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Mike Quigley (D-IL)
Pete DeFazio (D-OR)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)

Plus Republicans:

Ron Paul (R-TX)
Walter Jones (R-NC)
Tim Johnson (R-IL)
Ed Whitfield (R-KY)
Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD)
John Duncan (R-TN)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)

Please click the images to read the letter in full: