Notes on Meeting with
Representative Rahm Emanuel,
Jan 22, 2007, 9 AM,
3742 W. Irving Park Road.

The meeting demonstrated the effects of overwhelming opposition to the occupation of Iraq the the 5th district and in the nation. Rahm Emanuel, who had been a supporter of the war, has had to modify his position in response. Unlike his position before the election last November, Mr. Emanuel stated in the meeting that he was committed to supporting the efforts of Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA). Murtha wants to prevent any escalation of the war and to begin a process of redeployment of US troops out of Iraq. However, Emanuel refused to take any position on any effort to cut off funding for continuation of the war past the current fiscal year.

Emanuel said that he would ask Congress to require that the President seek approval for any military action against Iran, but he also said that this would not be taken up until after the debate on Iraq. Many of us felt that would be too late. He mentioned, however, that the special appropriation for Iraq includes several billion dollars for moving another fleet into the Persian Gulf, which could be interpreted as a show of force aimed at Iran. He suggested that he intended to expose and oppose this.

The meeting started a bit early, and about 20 people showed up, including people from Lincoln Park Neighbors United for Peace, Labor Groups, Progressive Democrats of America, Logan Square Neighbors for Peace, and other groups. I wrote down all that I could remember. If anyone thinks something should be added let us know.

We were only able to talk with Rahm Emanuel for about 20 minutes or so, as he had to catch a plane to DC.

I started out the meeting with some talking points I had put together. I got about halfway through. The meat of what I said was:

First, we urge Congressman Emanuel to come out against Bush's planned escalation of the troop level in Iraq.

Second, we suggest that Emanuel consider supporting a complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of the year 2007.

Third, we would like to point out that Bush's planned escalation could easily start real war with Iran.

Fourth, we emphasize that the US Occupation of 2007 has already been paid for by the Congress. Since any cutoff in funding will not be felt until 2008, it cannot endanger the troops.

Rahm said that he had actually been the one who popularized the term 'Escalation' instead of 'Surge' within the Democratic Party, since it more accurately reflected the nature of the policy Bush wants to implement. Surge, he said, suggested a temporary tactic, but Bush intends to keep the new soldiers in Iraq.

Rep. Emanuel was urged to do something about the cutbacks in health care and other Cook County Services, especially in view of the fact that the war in Iraq is consuming so much of our national resources. Mr. Emanuel mentioned that he had done various things to try and limit the occupation, such as introducing a "Parity Act" which would have forced spending on Iraq to be matched by domestic spending. This bill did not get adopted.

He also mentioned a problem with soldiers who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and have mental difficulties, yet are sent back into combat. He said that he wants to address this problem.

He also said that he did not necessarily want to sign on to the Woolsey Bill HR 508 * as someone mentioned and asked him. He said that he wanted to go by Jack Murtha's plan, and said the best approach was one of re-deployment.

(By 'Jack Murtha's plan', he is probably referring to the plans described in Murtha's House Joint Resolution #73, which was introduced on November 17, 2005. In essence, Murtha's resolution says:
1. US forces should be "re-deployed" from Iraq
2. A Quick-Reaction US force should be kept ready "over-the-horizon" to re-enter Iraq if necessary.
3. The US should pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
For Rep. Murtha's description of why he created this plan, see the following link:
www.house.gov/apps/list/press/pa12_murtha/pr051117iraq.html)

John Cabral asked him if he would be willing to speak out specifically for de-funding the war. Rahm said that he could not answer without discussing this with Rep. Murtha. This was interpreted as "No" since he repeated it several times in relation to cutting funds for the war.

Katy Scott of Millitary Families Speak Out spoke of her son who was badly injured in Iraq. She gave Mr. Emanuel a photo album of her son. He seemed moved as he looked through the album and asked if he could keep it for a while and return it to her.

Carl Rosen, United Electrical and Machine Workers of America Western Region President, mentioned that people in his union are sick and tired of the situation, since they know people who are in Iraq. They want a withdrawal.

Lorin Klugman of Progressive Democrats of America mentioned that PDA wants Rep. James McGovern's bill HR 4232, whose essence is cutting off funds for more troops to be deployed in Iraq, to be voted on. Lorin mentioned something about the Supreme Court seeing an implicit declaration of war in the funding for Iraq. Rahm replied that he wants to stay with Jack Murtha's plan, and does not want to cross Murtha with other possibilities. He had not heard of the McGovern Bill.

Mr. Emanuel also mentioned that he wants to start organizing to eliminate the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Mr. Emanuel then laid out his position on Iraq policy. He said that he wanted to use the findings of the "Iraq Study Group" a.k.a. the Baker/Hamilton group. He said that especially the Baker/Hamilton emphasis on diplomacy rather than military force was of great importance. He said that he wanted to use Congressman Murtha's plan for re-deployment from Iraq as a guide. He reiterated that he wants Guantanomo to be closed. He also said something about wanting an "Up-or-Down" vote about Iraq, what this referred to exactly was not clear to me.

He said that votes would be taken about Iran in due time, but that he believed that Bush did not have the right to go to war with Iran without the explicit approval of Congress.

He mentioned that of $5.8 Billion in the latest appropriation for Iraq and Afghanistan, there is also $2.8 Billion for the Navy.

At this point Mr. Emanuel had to leave for his flight.

* (HR 508 is a comprehensive Bill about Iraq that would end the occupation of Iraq, accelerate training of Iraqi police force, pursue stability through diplomacy, respect the territorial integrity of Iraq as a nation-state, try to find all missing US citizens in Iraq, and turn everything over to the Iraqi govt. within 6 months.)