I don’t think we talk enough at Calitics about Iraq.  It’s true that there is not a lot that can be done at the state level to effect the debate, although Carole Migden is offering legislation opposing the war.  But the California Congressional delegation will have a lot to say about the future of Iraq and America’s involvement in it.  I’ve already expressed my disappointment with Henry Waxman’s reticence to challenge the Administration on funding and bringing the troops home.  He is but one of several Southern California Democrats who have consistently voted to continue our involvement and enable this Administration’s crucially poor judgment in perpetuating this foreign policy disaster.  Now the activist community is striking back and putting more pressure on local legislators to act.

Marcy Winograd and some other activist groups are going to occupy Rep. Adam Schiff’s (CA-29, Pasadena) office starting tomorrow.

Next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, from 11 AM – 6 PM, I will join other anti-war activists, some of them leaders of local LA Democratic Clubs, to conduct non-violent  civil disobedience.  As part of a  nationwide Occupation Project, we will occupy Congressman Adam Schiff’s office at 87 North Raymond in Old Town, Pasadena (Los Angeles area). 

The demand?  Schiff, who voted for the war again and again, must stop funding the US occupation of Iraq.

Risking arrest, we will  sit-in, block the entrance, leaflet cars, and demonstrate outside  Schiff’s office, just as Voices for Creative  Non-Violence and Code Pink occupied the  offices of Senators McCain and Clinton recently.

Schiff is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which will get first crack at the President’s $145 billion-dollar supplemental funding request.  They can set the terms of the debate by adding any riders or limits, on end-dates or troop levels, into the bill.  This is a key point.  If the President vetoes an appropriation, then HE is cutting off funding for the troops.  The goal ought to be to pass a small appropriation with time-based limits that he won’t like, daring both GOP Republicans and the President to block it and risk getting no money at all.  Then of course you have to be ever vigilant that he doesn’t start illegally funding the war, which I’ve no doubt he’d attempt.

The Democrats are in the majority and will control how this matter will go forward.  Reps. like Schiff, Waxman and Howard Berman need to hear from their constituents and take a stand against this insane policy.  I think street actions are a component on an overarching strategy to force Congress to act.  Many bloggers are somewhat wary of civil disobedience and I’m not sure why.  This escalation is a band-aid and not a new strategy, which will only create more targets.  It is embarrassingly clear that all of the myths used to sell this escalation policy are absurd and wrong and insulting.  The American people are well ahead of Congress on this.  We’re staring deep into a failure and we cannot continue to sink lives and treasure into this pit.

Perhaps this is not surprising. Americans do not warm to defeat or failure, and our politicians are famously reluctant to admit their own responsibility for anything resembling those un-American outcomes. So they beat around the bush, wringing hands and debating “nonbinding resolutions” that oppose the president’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

For the moment, the collision of the public’s clarity of mind, the president’s relentless pursuit of defeat and Congress’s anxiety has paralyzed us. We may be doomed to two more years of chasing the mirage of democracy in Iraq and possibly widening the war to Iran. But this is not inevitable. A Congress, or a president, prepared to quit the game of “who gets the blame” could begin to alter American strategy in ways that will vastly improve the prospects of a more stable Middle East.

That’s William Odom, a retired Lt. General of the Army.  He understands that Congress must act to remove us from this nightmare and refocus our energies on a tough but smart foreign policy.  If Representatives like Schiff refuse to take a stand then pressure must be applied.  This is no longer a game where strongly worded letters or nonbinding expressions of disapproval can be sufficient.  Many lives and this nation’s global credibility are at stake.  Congress must impose its legislative power to extricate the US from Iraq.

We will be getting liveblogging reports of the protest here at Calitics in the next couple days.  You can RSVP for the event at pdlavote-at-aol-dot-com.