Democrats Launch Iraq Petition

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With little progress against the war being made on Capitol Hill, 16 Members of Congress are rallying behind a national campaign to corral Democratic superdelegates into signing a petition to insert anti-war language into the party platform in 2008.

As the Democratic nominating contest continues to churn, the anti-war Members, who are divided between the candidates, are seeking a show of unity on a subject dear to the Democratic base. They are working with Win Without War, a broad-based anti-war coalition that includes MoveOn.org.

Iraq has been a prominent issue in the fight between Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.): Clinton voted for the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, while Obama, who was not a Senator at the time, said he would have voted against it.

But both Obama and Clinton now say they would like to withdraw troops from Iraq as quickly as possible, though Obama has said he would do so in 16 months, while Clinton has been less specific.

The allegiance of House Members, regardless of their Iraq stance, is crucial in the Democratic contest because they are superdelegates who could ultimately pick the Democratic nominee. Superdelegates could also be swayed by the results of Tuesday’s Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

Members of the petition drive include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), a big Obama supporter who is helping to spearhead the anti-war platform campaign, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.), Lynn Woolsey (Calif.), John Lewis (Ga.), Jim Moran (Va.), Joe Sestak (Pa.) and Sam Farr (Calif.).

Including anti-war language in the party platform “will bring unity to our Caucus, and unity to the Democratic Party,” said Lee, an Obama supporter and founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus.

“Despite our respective positions on who the Democratic presidential nominee is, there’s no difference in opinion when it comes to our shared and unwavering resolve to end the occupation in Iraq.”

Woolsey, an avid Clinton supporter, said while she believes Clinton would pull troops out of Iraq “quicker, and she’d not waver on it,” she is also “gaining confidence that Barack Obama would be able to do the same with the experience that he will gain.”

Farr, who is uncommitted, said that he sees no big differences between the candidates on Iraq, and he argued they would have the same advisers once in the White House.

The policy direction for Iraq “is not just a statement of the president. It is accepted by Congress and the administration,” Farr said.

The anti-war petition calls on the Democratic national platform to include specific language advocating the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces and private military security contractors from Iraq, leaving no permanent military bases behind. It also calls on the party to promote a diplomatic surge in the Middle East including negotiations with Iran, and demands an end to torture and the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison.

Anti-war Democrats appear to be turning to the political arena to make their case as their chances of seriously influencing ongoing Congressional negotiations over the Iraq supplemental spending bill are waning. House Democratic leaders appear more likely to craft a supplemental without significant policy changes in Iraq as they wait for the next president to tackle the issue.

Moran, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, conceded to anti-war activists in a conference call last Thursday that “while we’re going to put some language that you’d be happy with in the Iraq supplemental, I’m not all that excited because we really haven’t made any progress in terms of Congressional limitations in the war.”