Friday, July 08, 2005
NEA Supports "Exit Strategy" for Iraq
The 2.8 million strong National Education Association passed the following new business item on July 6 at its annual Representative Assembly in Los Angeles. The majority of its eight thousand five hundred delegates proclaimed:
"The NEA calls on President Bush to support our troops by creating an exit strategy and bring our troops home.
"provide adequate veterans benefits and meet the needs of our veterans for adequate jobs, education and healthcare.
"The NEA will:
"support NEA members and their families called upon to serve in Iraq by identifying and providing information about resources and services to help meet their special needs, by advocating for their interest and by protecting their jobs, seniority, and benefits.
"advocate the reordering of national priorities toward peace and the human needs of our people."
The original new business item had as its first bullet the following:
"The NEA calls on President Bush and Congress to
"end the U.S. Military Occupation of Iraq and bring our troops home."
The adoption of the amended resolution (the substitution of "exit strategy" for "end the U.S. Military Occupation") by the majority of the delegates was considered a great success by members of the NEA Peace and Justice Caucus, who moved the new business item. Members of Peace and Justice also moved or supported items related to violation of student privacy re military recruiting, CAFTA, and Haiti and sponsored panels including Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, and GoldStar Families, an organization of anti-war parents who lost children in Iraq.
"The NEA calls on President Bush to support our troops by creating an exit strategy and bring our troops home.
"provide adequate veterans benefits and meet the needs of our veterans for adequate jobs, education and healthcare.
"The NEA will:
"support NEA members and their families called upon to serve in Iraq by identifying and providing information about resources and services to help meet their special needs, by advocating for their interest and by protecting their jobs, seniority, and benefits.
"advocate the reordering of national priorities toward peace and the human needs of our people."
The original new business item had as its first bullet the following:
"The NEA calls on President Bush and Congress to
"end the U.S. Military Occupation of Iraq and bring our troops home."
The adoption of the amended resolution (the substitution of "exit strategy" for "end the U.S. Military Occupation") by the majority of the delegates was considered a great success by members of the NEA Peace and Justice Caucus, who moved the new business item. Members of Peace and Justice also moved or supported items related to violation of student privacy re military recruiting, CAFTA, and Haiti and sponsored panels including Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, and GoldStar Families, an organization of anti-war parents who lost children in Iraq.
