Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Dated January 25, 2005 at 12:30 am.
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Cong. Schakowsky calls for [in the words of General John Borling] the U. S. to "cut and run."
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Cong. [and a House Minority Chief Deputy Whip] Jan Schakowsky [D- Evanston, IL, 9th Cong. Dist.] calls for the withdrawal of U. S. Troops to begin now and to be completed “soon within this year.”
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7th year Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky [D- Evanston]:
"The time has come for the United States to withdraw our troops from the battlefield of a war that should never have been waged. There was no real justification for sending our brave young men and women to fight in Iraq, and there is even less reason to keep them there now to die in ever increasing numbers."
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"A political process has begun, admittedly fragile, and it is time for the United States to leave. Once the January 30 [2005] elections are concluded, the new Iraqi government takes responsibility for forging its own path toward stability and democracy. The U.S. should provide financial and material assistance for that effort and encourage the international community to help…All of us care deeply about our brave soldiers who are doing the very best they can under near impossible conditions. It is time to bring them home."
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"…Withdrawal should begin now…150,000 troops on the ground in Iraq make it even more difficult for that very little beginning of democracy to flourish, in my view."
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Jeff Berkowitz: Are you suggesting a timetable? That is, withdrawal of the troops by a certain date and over a certain interval? Or, are you suggesting they [the Bush Administration] try to take them [the U. S. military] out of there now?

Cong. Schakowsky: I am suggesting—I think it may take some time, but I think that we are not talking about-- As Soon As Possible-- or some unspecified date. I think we certainly should be-- be talking over the next several months-- that we see a dramatic withdrawal of our troops there and hopefully soon within this year we see all of our troops gone.
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Berkowitz: If those people who are elected in the next week in Iraq—at least as the interim governing council—if those individuals, those Iraqis, differed with you and made an express statement that they wished the United States [Military] to stay in the country until they [the Iraqis] felt secure, would that cause you to change your mind?

Cong. Schakowsky: No, I think that the United States now has to be making decisions. I think that they, that the United States should be able to offer in terms of support [f]or their nascent democracy—other kinds of help and assistance. But, I don’t believe that we any longer are playing a constructive role by having 150,000 young men and women in harm’s way—getting killed daily in Iraq.
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Cong. Jan Schakowsky [D- Evanston, 9th Cong. Dist. and one of eight Chief Deputy Whips for the Democrats in the U. S. House of Representatives], speaking and answering questions at a Press Conference held at the East Bank Club in Chicago during the afternoon on Monday, January 24, 2005.
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Jeff Berkowitz, Host and Producer of Public Affairs and an Executive Recruiter doing Legal Search, can be reached at JBCG@aol.com
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