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2011 Activism home

Iraq & Afghanistan

We knew the Iraq war was based on lies and misinformation. Soon after it began in March, 2003, it turned into a violent occupation. More than 4,400 American troops were killed and more than 30,000 wounded, and at least 100,000 Iraqis were killed, most of them civilians. The financial cost was more than $1 trillion, while the cost to our international relations and our own democracy is immeasurable. CREDO members rallied against it before it began, helped register to vote millions of people who opposed the war—and ever since, including in 2011, we’ve called for an end to the war. Late in the year, the troop withdrawal began and was completed in December.

On the Afghanistan front, CREDO members took many actions calling on Congress and President Obama to set a clear timetable to begin troop withdrawal. After more than 10 years and countless deaths, the war cost our nation more than $100 billion in 2011 alone. The efforts of CREDO members helped build support to end the war: In the House, a bipartisan bill calling for an accelerated withdrawal nearly passed with a 204-215 vote, and in the Senate, an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley pushing for an earlier withdrawal of troops passed on a voice vote.

Thousands of CREDO members signed petitions to their Congressional representative to support a letter from Rep. Barbara Lee of California, asking President Obama to order a significant drawdown of troops in Afghanistan by July as promised. Eighty representatives signed the letter. More than 600 CREDO activists also attended 67 district meetings with representatives urging them to cosponsor Lee’s bill calling for an end to combat operations in Afghanistan. CREDO members will no doubt keep up the fight until we actually see an end to that war.

2011 Activism home