Lynn C. Woolsey: “last Thursday, September 15, we held an informal congressional hearing to discuss and explore a military withdrawal from…”

“last Thursday, September 15, we held an informal congressional hearing to discuss and explore a military withdrawal from Iraq. It was called ``The Bipartisan Congressional Forum on How to Bring the Troops Home.'' It was the first of its kind and it was about time. I had hoped that the House Committee on Armed Services or the House Committee on International Relations would have taken up the matter, but repeated calls for such hearings have fallen on deaf ears. So, with the help of my colleagues and with many others and also my wonderful staff, we went about putting together this very needed hearing. In so doing, we knew absolutely that opposition to the war is a stance that is firmly in the political mainstream. Less than 40 percent of Americans, according to the recent polls, approve of the President's handling of Iraq, and roughly half want to see our troops come home as soon as possible. With this being an American sentiment comes responsibility to be more than a protest movement. We also knew that we needed to offer sound, thorough policy proposals that could turn our deeply held convictions into operational reality, and that is what Thursday's hearing was all about. This was not an opportunity for placard waving, though there is certainly a time and a place for that. We were more interested in how to bring our troops home, rather than why. We heard from a broad range of experts, from scholars and military strategists.…”