16 Reps. Urge Obama to Support--Not Thwart--Iraqi Vote on U.S. Presence

On June 23, sixteen members of Congress wrote to Obama expressing concern of the report in a New York Times article that U.S. diplomats were pressuring the Iraqi government to not hold its promised referendum on the U.S.-Iraq security agreement.

For more information on the referendum, see the Truthout article Iraq Vote Could Oust US Troops Early".
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June 23, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

We were very disappointed to read in the New York Times on Wednesday, June 10th, that representatives of the administration are seeking to discourage the government of Iraq from holding a referendum -- that it had promised to hold -- on whether or not American troops should remain in that country, because of a fear that the majority of Iraqis will express a wish that we leave.

We are Members who opposed the Iraq war from the start and believe that the pace of withdrawal should be much quicker. We know that there are some who disagree with us on this, but we understand that at least a large part of the argument was that we somehow owed it to the Iraqi people to stay there until things were more stable, and that it was this obligation to them that played a major part in what we think is an unduly slow withdrawal timetable.

Given that, we were very unpleasantly surprised to learn of efforts by our government to prevent the people of Iraq from expressing their views on this very point. If it is in fact the case that a majority of the Iraqis are ready to vote for us to withdraw, the argument for our staying -- in defiance of their wishes -- becomes a very weak one. Apparently, it is the fear of having a large part of the rationale for a longer stay than we think wise demolished by the Iraqi people that is leading us to try to block the holding of a vote to which the government is committed. Thwarting democracy in the name of our advancing it is hardly a policy to which we think we should be committed, and so we urge you to make it very clear that the American government is in no way opposed to the holding of the referendum, and that if in fact a majority of the Iraqi people vote to ask us to leave more quickly, we will comply.


Rep. Barney Frank (MA-4)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ-7)
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA-6)
Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-35)
Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-9)
Rep. John Conyers (MI-14)
Rep. Bob Filner (CA-51)
Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12)
Rep. Eric Massa (NY-29)
Rep. Gwen Moore (WI-4)
Rep. Michael Capuano (MA-8)
Rep. Sam Farr (CA-17)
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
Rep. James McGovern (MA-3)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-9)
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