September | 2010 | Be a Seed for Change

RE-Post …

Tonight marks the end of the American combat mission in Iraq.

As a candidate for this office, I pledged to end this war responsibly. And, as President, that is what I am doing.

Since I became Commander-in-Chief, we’ve brought home nearly 100,000 U.S. troops. We’ve closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of our bases.

As Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, our commitment to a sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq continues. Under Operation New Dawn, a transitional force of U.S. troops will remain to advise and assist Iraqi forces, protect our civilians on the ground, and pursue targeted counterterrorism efforts.

By the end of next year, consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, these men and women, too, will come home.

Ending this war is not only in Iraq’s interest — it is in our own. Our nation has paid a huge price to put Iraq’s future in the hands of its people. We have sent our men and women in uniform to make enormous sacrifices. We have spent vast resources abroad in the face of several years of recession at home.

We have met our responsibility through the courage and resolve of our women and men in uniform.

In seven years, they confronted a mission as challenging and as complex as any our military has ever been asked to face.

Nearly 1.5 million Americans put their lives on the line. Many returned for multiple tours of duty, far from their loved ones who bore a heroic burden of their own. And most painfully, more than 4,400 Americans have given their lives, fighting for people they never knew, for values that have defined our people for more than two centuries.

What their country asked of them was not small. And what they sacrificed was not easy.

For that, each and every American owes them our heartfelt thanks.

Our promise to them — to each woman or man who has donned our colors — is that our country will serve them as faithfully as they have served us. We have already made the largest increase in funding for veterans in decades. So long as I am President, I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that sacred trust.

Tonight, we mark a milestone in our nation’s history. Even at a time of great uncertainty for so many Americans, this day and our brave troops remind us that our future is in our own hands and that our best days lie ahead.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

With Congress’s August recess now under way, Republican members of Congress are starting to show up at Tea Party events and campaign rallies all over the country.

We saw last year during the fight for health reform that this is a time when the extremists run rampant. Remember “death panels?”

This year, Republicans are looking to have it both ways, trying to appeal to independent voters while making promises to the Tea Party crowd to pursue an extreme right-wing agenda if they regain control of Congress.

We don’t — but I sure wish we did.

That’s where the “Accountability Project” comes in. It’s a platform for citizens to document Republican candidates and their public statements at local events, as well as their campaign tactics.

The Accountability Project allows you to submit videos, recordings, and other items for publication online, so that candidates see that there’s a cost to their dishonest statements — and so that everyday citizens can see what their Republican candidates for office are saying.

We need people like you to take the lead. Sign up today to be a part of the Accountability Project here.

The American people deserve an honest debate — and far too often, candidates try to make misleading attacks and false claims under the radar.

This project seeks to shine a light on those practices, and you have a crucial role to play in making it happen.

There are several ways in which folks can participate:

— If you have anything that can record video — from a cell phone to a video camera — you can go to public events and record what candidates say.

— If you receive any sort of mailings or literature from candidates, you can post them online for all to see.

— And if you hear of any upcoming public events for Republican candidates in your area, you can let everyone know, so that other concerned citizens can get out there.

This project will enable folks to keep track of Republican candidates running for every office, up and down the ballot.

Please help fight back against Republicans’ shadowy tactics — participate in The Accountability Project:

http://my.democrats.org/APsignup

Thanks,

Shauna

Shauna Daly
Research Director
Democratic National Committee