House adopts resolution rebuking Obama for Action in Libya

Senators are often much harder to move than House members on peace issues, and sometimes people get demoralized. In general, your average senator is much more attached to the Empire than your average member of the House, because senators are much more insulated from public opinion. But when the Senate starts to move - now you got something.

This week, the Senate started to move. Fifteen senators - so far - have signed a bipartisan letter to the president initiated by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), urging "strong support for a shift in strategy and the beginning of a sizable and sustained reduction of US military forces in Afghanistan, beginning in July 2011." The letter, including the fifteen signers so far, is here . A group of former military officials is supporting the letter, as well as a coalition of national organizations , including MoveOn and the National Organization for Women.

Meanwhile, on the Libya war, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Virginia) and Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) - both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - have introduced a bipartisan resolution - S.J.Res.18 (not on THOMAS yet, as of this writing, but you can find the text here ) - echoing actions that have been taken by the House, including the Conyers amendment prohibiting the introduction of ground troops, the Garrett amendment affirming that US military operations have not been authorized and the Boehner resolution demanding more information from the president (which never would have happened had it not been necessary to draw support from the sharper resolution introduced by Dennis Kucinich mandating the withdrawal of US forces).

The Webb-Corker bill is pursuing the same idea as the Conyers amendment: constrain the president from unilateral war making with broad, bipartisan action.

If you want your senators to sign on to the Merkley-Lee-Udall letter and the Webb-Corker bill, you should tell them. The Congressional switchboard is 202-225-3121.