The Voice

Join the club next week for a Presidential debate party and pot luck on Tuesday the 30^th at the home of Debbie and Sky Madsen.  Plan to arrive 5 to 5:30 pm for a 6 pm debate start time, broadcast from Drexel University in Philadelphia, hosted by Brian Williams with contributions by Tim Russert.  http://www.drexel.edu/debate/

RSVP to Denise San Angelo phone 749-1717.   If you need a ride, let Denise know – we are providing rides for those who cannot drive, or cannot drive at night.   Pot Luck:  we don’t want to starve, so plan on bringing an item to share.  Tell Denise what you want to bring, and she will re-direct you if it looks like our dinner choices are all Tostitos and chocolate cookies . . . . .  (although I know some people who would think that was just fine . . . .)

In the October 22^nd issue of The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright, (author of The Looming Tower, Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11) leads the Talk of the Town section with a commentary on the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, noting that voters will have a chance to choose among many candidates with different plans for US presence in Iraq – immediate withdrawal (Richardson), rapid drawdowns (Edwards and Obama), open-ended commitment to the war (Giuliani, Romney, McCain) or a resigned middle ground (Hillary Clinton).  However, in Wright’s words,  “The Iraqi people have no such choice. . “  

A review of Iraqis polls from as early as 2003, show 2/3 of Iraqis wanted the
US and British forces to leave the country within a year.  Two years later, on the eve of their first democratic election, 2/3 wanted the troops out either  immediately, or as soon as the new government was established.   In 2006, 72% wanted their new government to ask the
United States to leave within a year.  

In a poll published last month, half a year after the surge,  nearly half of Iraqis favored an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces, while 34%, most of them Kurds said that the U.S. should remain “until security is established.”   Among Shiites, 44% favored immediate withdrawal; among Sunnis the figure reached 72%.    There is more ambivalence among the Iraqis lawmakers.

If the Iraqis could vote, would they favor withdrawal with the risk of sectarian slaughter and/or invasions by neighboring countries, or a continued loathed occupation with all its problems? 

Wright ends by saying:

As the Republican and Democratic Presidential contenders debate whether we should leave now, or soon, or years from now, they should remember that it’s not just an American decision.  We didn’t ask the Iraqis if we could invade their country; we didn’t ask them if we could occupy it; and now we are not asking them if we should leave.  Whatever we end up doing, we need to remember that eventually the only people who are going to occupy Iraq are the Iraqis, and that they decision of when we leave, as inevitably we will, should be as much theirs as ours.

Reference Links:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/10/22/071022taco_talk_wright

http://books.google.com/books?id=9uMrAwAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:Lawrence+inauthor:Wright

Two events are coming up in the next month for the TVV Democrats,

Tuesday, October 30^th, Democratic Debate Party at the home of Deb and Sky Madsen.  

• This is being broadcast from Drexel University in Philadelphia, by NBC/MSNBC news.  Current published start time is 6 pm Az/Pacific (9 pm EDT) – and it is set to run for 2 hours.   We are working out the details now, but put this on your calendar.    This should be a fun event – get a chance to view the Presidential candidates and visit with your democratic stalwarts from the TVV.   For any of you who cannot drive at night, we will be providing rides.    

Saturday, November 3^rd:  Tanque Verde Valley Democrats will be joining the monthly LD30 meeting at the Golf Links Library to hear Tony Wagner, Deputy Political Director of the Arizona Democratic Party present the 50 State strategy

• Many of us have heard this presentation, and it is excellent, and demonstrates how each of us is important in creating a network of active democrats, down to our own neighborhoods.  
• Learn how this election year is about much, much more than just the presidential contest.  We need to return Gabby Giffords  to the house, Bob Lord will be running in CD 3  http://www.lord2008.com, and we have a chance to gain seats in the state legislature from LD30.  Politics is local, and we have momentum right here in Pima county, and in the state.  
• Start time currently set at 9:30 am for coffee and doughnuts, 10 am meeting start.

Also, join other democrats in Phoenix Friday night November 2^nd for the Hall of Fame dinner, with keynote speaker James Carville, and our own Gov. Janet Napolitano and Atty General Terry Goddard http://www.azdem.org/events/639/2007-hall-of-fame-dinner      It should be a great night, and a fantastic way to start the election year (yes, only 12 months to get a lot of work done).    If you want to attend, please call Vera Berkman at 615 5144  That is all for now – more details on the local events to come.