Person Power?

October 21, 2006 7:36 PM

What can one person (me) do to get US troops out of Iraq as soon as possible?

I've given up marches as mostly useless. I don’t have a lot of money to give to politicians. I doubt writing my senator will have much effect. So what can I, or any other normal citizen, do that will help bring our troops home?

posted by CaptMcalister to law & government (27 comments total)

Well, the election is in three weeks or so. Other then that, not much. You can also volunteer for candidates who support a withdrawal. I think there is a hot congressional race near the SF bay area that you could volunteer with.
posted by delmoi at 7:38 PM on October 21, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

vote democrat.

I wished I could.
posted by krautland at 7:41 PM on October 21, 2006

Yeah, CA-11 would be a good race to volunteer for.
posted by delmoi at 7:42 PM on October 21, 2006

So I actually live in Boston now, but that’s beside the point. Do you really think voting, or supporting a single candidate will lead to change? And will that change be fast? Will a Democrat controlled congress bring the troops home immediately?
posted by CaptMcalister at 7:52 PM on October 21, 2006

Voting Democrat may not necessarily be the answer. Plenty of Republicans are breaking with the President on the Iraq issue. What really is needed is some change in the power dynamics in Washington. I know that my votes this November will be for the challengers to the incumbents. I'm sick of the same rhetoric from both parties and think the introduction of some new ideas in Washington might facilitate a change. Then again, that might just be the optimist in me . . .
posted by galimatias at 7:55 PM on October 21, 2006

I'm going to make "get out the vote" calls for moveon.org tomorrow. I HATE calling strangers, I don't much like getting the calls, but they say studies show the calls make a difference. And the fact is, I've had some great and interesting conversations with folks all over the country.

I've also had some calls with people trying to get them to call people to get out the vote. It's just like one of those pyramid schemes. . if I call four people and they each call five people. Amway! Only we don't get any cool laundry products in the end.

Anyway, you can check out moveon.org get out the call page If you're willing to follow a very easy script, and if you have access to a phone (can be a cell phone) and a computer at the same time, it's something to do.

If you don't, you can probably find someone near you who'll be able to hook you up to someone who's sponsoring a party. I think there's some sort of Ice Cream thing going on. Yum.
posted by katier at 7:59 PM on October 21, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Will a Democrat controlled congress bring the troops home immediately?

Well, that one is easy. No.
posted by smackfu at 8:17 PM on October 21, 2006

So I actually live in Boston now, but that’s beside the point. Do you really think voting, or supporting a single candidate will lead to change? And will that change be fast? Will a Democrat controlled congress bring the troops home immediately?

Oh, I don't think there are any races nearby. Hmm. But yeah sadly there is nothing you can really do to bring the troops home immediately, but voting democratic will expedite that, most likely.
posted by delmoi at 8:21 PM on October 21, 2006

Your best bet from Boston is probably to help out the Democratic House candidates in Connecticut. They are the closest in both senses.
posted by smackfu at 8:33 PM on October 21, 2006

Well I think you should do it one soldier at a time, by volunteering for the Gi Rights Hotline. They advise people on active duty--particularly people who have been recalled to Iraq under potentially misleading circumstances.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 8:33 PM on October 21, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

kill bin laden

just to stir things up a bit
posted by mrleec at 9:01 PM on October 21, 2006

okay CaptMcalister, you do have a point. while I consider voting to be the most important civic duty (I am a german and we have a certain history that happened because people didn't bother to vote at some point), it might not get them out right away. but making yourself heard is the key point here. only if you raise your voice will you be heard. being in the military yourself, you have some added credibility here. your name, rank and the likes on a letter to your congressman has a lot more potential to make someone think oh shit, I gotta do something than just another liberal guy like me speaking up. besides, I can't vote and that means they don't have to care about me.

also - consider the ACLU. give them a couple bucks. see what they recommend. I give to them because I trust them to stand up for my ideals, for trying to ensure that this country doesn't forget what it was meant to be.
posted by krautland at 9:04 PM on October 21, 2006

also, watch meet the press or face the nation tomorrow morning (that's sunday). nothing beats actually hearing what their plans are from their own mouths. you can tell who would get stuff done and who would sit around doing nothing because he'd be afraid to rock the boat.
posted by krautland at 9:08 PM on October 21, 2006

The following is not pleasant, and I'm not certain if I agree with it morally, but it's an answer to your question. Military logistics will probably have more of an effect on troop levels than anything a democratic congress does, especially if the democrats only control one house. If you want to reduce troop levels in Iraq, do what you can to lower enlistment. Encourage local high schools to invite Americorps recruiters to talk to their students, as an alternative to the military. If you know a young person considering joining the military, or the reserves, try to talk them out of it... some advice on that is given here. And if they really want to join the military, convince them to join some branch other than the Army or Marine Corps.
posted by gsteff at 9:21 PM on October 21, 2006 [2 favorites has favorites]

Don't just vote for a party, vote for a candidate. I doubt just voting Democrat will bring the troops home any faster. Instead, find candidates who want to bring the troops home and support them.

Voting with a party is part of what got us in this mess.
posted by Loto at 10:00 PM on October 21, 2006

I like katier's answer because it gives me somthing I can do right now which actually makes a step towards ending the war. Also RJ's sugestion is compelling in that it is a very personal action. And just so no one gets confussed I am not in the millitary, my name is a simpsons reference.
posted by CaptMcalister at 11:21 PM on October 21, 2006

Go to Iraq and assist in handing over what is currently run by the Coalition Forces to the Iraqis.

The sooner they get the country back, the sooner the Coaliiton Forces leave.
posted by Dagobert at 1:10 AM on October 22, 2006

Think long and hard about what happens to innocent civilians if we do have an immediate pull out of troops in Iraq. It may be a bloodbath of historic proportions.

We created this enormous mess that will implode the minute we are gone. I think for us to wave bye-bye and say oops we goofed (even if it saves several hundred US lives) borders on the criminal. I'm not advocating victory cause there is no such thing.

We need at least 500,000 UN or NATO troops in there in a Bosnian partitioned model for ten years or more. You can go to the UN and advocate for them to take the point position in Iraq.
posted by Xurando at 5:30 AM on October 22, 2006

Push the government to finish what it started in an ethical and skilled way (whether that be immediate pullout or UN involvement, I don't know). Since our current administration is dead set on avoiding all evidence-based policy decisions, the most useful thing you could do is work towards electing rational leaders. Stuff envelopes, register voters, knock on doors, whatever! Get involved at any level you can in your local congress or senate campaign. Even if you don't 100% agree with that candidate's position, you'll start building up connections and knowledge and figure out where your help is needed.
posted by footnote at 6:27 AM on October 22, 2006

Voting is important but unlikely to be the most direct answer. The most important voices so far have been those generals who resigned so that they could voice their opinion. Pat Tillman's brother has also recently become outspoken. This falls in line with what gsteff said about recruiting - the fact that signing bonuses are now sometimes around $40,000 means less troops per buck than five years ago, and with standards falling, more trouble per troop.

There are indications that this recruiting shortfall may be addressed by signing up immigrants on a fast-track to citizenship, but cultural and language differences make training and command structure a problem.

It seems the only people with the credence to speak against the war are currently those who have fought in it. Many veterans are apparently getting washed out with insufficient benefits to cover the expenses associated with their injuries. I don't know particular support groups, but finding ways to help these individuals have the resources to voice their concerns may be the most specific way to bring home the human costs in a way that cannot be brushed aside.
posted by dragonsi55 at 6:36 AM on October 22, 2006

The only thing that has ever worked is the seemingly trite answer Chomsky gives whenever people ask him what they should do: Organize Organize Organize. You're looking for something you as one person can do but the disheartening fact is that you can't do much as one person (this is where terrorists and assassins branch off, incidentally). You really have to let go of that idea and focus on how you can add yourself to larger bodies of people who together can apply the pressure of your collective will to change things the way you want them. It feels unsatisfying, but the math checks out.

For sure do everything you can as an individual - vote, write letters to congress, letters to the editor, etc., even if it feels useless (I feel like giving up on marches and protests, too, so I hear you). But find ways to magnify your will by joining it to others'. Either start your own movement or join another one. If 1 person lobbies congress, nobody gives a shit. If 100 do it, who cares. 1000, bah. 10 million? They listen. There's some threshold of numbers, visibility, votes, money, shame, threat, etc. that makes elected officials change their policies.

I don't see any group with enough clout yet to do it, but that's incentive for you and me to join it and make it bigger, louder, and more insistent. Ironically part of what is necessary is surrender. You have to say to yourself that old affirmation "I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something." So go down to MoveOn or whatever and be the guy who answers the phone. That won't get us out of Iraq. But if you and everybody else does something like that, assuming enough people agree with you, if everyone does one little piece as part of a focused push to stop the war, and your group's leaders steer you intelligently, you will win. You need the numbers and the organization though. That's where you come in.

My 2 cents on the bloodbath pullout is that our exit would indeed cause a vacuum and there would be lots of sectarian violence and chaos and lawlessness and death of innocents. But what do we have now? Same thing. Except the reason we've got it now is that we're there. If we leave, major irritant removed, some kind of equilibrium will form sooner or later, and I think less damage will end up being done than if we stayed on indefinitely. I think this wound needs cauterizing and that's what would happen if we left. Painful, but better than gangrene or bleeding to death. It won't be the shining democracy that idiot monkey child tries to forecast, but it'll be the beginning of something. The only people who ultimately will sort that country out will be the people who live there, and they can't start until we leave.
posted by kookoobirdz at 10:18 AM on October 22, 2006

Capt., you could go over there, kill all the extremists, and hand over the security of the country to the Iraqis without sending it spinning into full-blown civil war and dragging the rest of the world deeper into more violent conflict.

Or you could run for President based on your brilliant and unprecedented plans to enable them to do so.

"Get out" isn't an "answer". It's shorthand for a host of actions, repercussions, and more questions. Organize all you want, but like my boss says, don't bring complaints, bring solutions.

[P.S. to Gsteff: I know you were conflicted, but that's the shittiest thing I've read all day.]
posted by Tubes at 11:27 AM on October 22, 2006

My wife just found this link:
Troops in debt can't go overseas

So why wouldn't an army wife, standing in line for day old bread, decide it wasn't a good idea to go shopping, when it means they'd have to send her husband home?
posted by dragonsi55 at 11:32 AM on October 22, 2006

What's so shitty about fully informing 17/18 year old kids about what they face in the military? Why should we let them make that decision based on military propaganda alone?
posted by footnote at 12:10 PM on October 22, 2006

Run for office.
posted by Count Ziggurat at 6:44 PM on October 22, 2006

Because we still need cannon fodder, footnote.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:00 PM on October 22, 2006

Well, by this President's own admission it will NOT occur under his administration, but if you start working on it now, we can ensure that the next administration has a different point of view.
posted by Ash3000 at 6:42 AM on October 23, 2006