Thursday, March 29, 2007

Rep. Klein, your newsletter leaves out Iraq

An open letter to Ron Klein, U.S. Representative from District 22 in Florida:
Dear Rep. Klein,
I got your newsletter yesterday. It’s a nice job; it tells us, according to the list on the right, that you are going to help us with a wide range of issues: from agriculture to welfare. I’m all for your dealing agriculture, welfare, and everything else on the list, but what about the issue not on the list: Iraq? Are you sure that none of your constituents cares about Iraq, so you left it off the list? You just voted to establish a timetable for getting out of Iraq. There is no mention of your vote in your newsletter. You are a member of the House foreign relations committee, but “foreign relations” is not on the list. Are we also not interested in foreign relations and our biggest foreign headache, Iraq?
You shouldn’t run away from Iraq and its problems. Many of us voted for you, because you would put the resolution of the Iraq war front and center in your tenure as representative. But, apparently, you’d like to ignore Iraq, in the hopes that it will go away. Rep. Klein, Iraq is not going away, nor is our responsibility for the resolution of the mess there.
You can be a leader by giving Iraq an important place in your newsletter and in your time in the House.
Peter McNamara

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