Dear Senator Bayh:

We hope that this letter finds you and your family well. Many in Iraq and in the USA are not faring well. It is time to bring that disaster to an end..now.

We are now 31 months into the Iraq war. We have now over 2000 US killed in Iraq and over 250 in Afghanistan. We have attached the list of the US dead from the past l0 days. We obtain these numbers from the website www.cnn.com/specials/2003/iraq. The number of US wounded and the number of civilians killed are each approximately 9 times the number of the dead. We mourn these dead and worry about those currently in the battle zones or involved in other ways.

We are appalled that President Bush, while proclaiming to take full responsibility for the botched relief operations in New Orleans, wants to balance the relief in the south with cuts in other social programs. The war costs are over 200 billion and there is evidence of lack of accountability and waste. According to the National Priorities Project, that 200 billion could build over l.8 million housing units, badly needed due to the natural disasters in Asia, the US and Central America recently. We have to wonder, what does it mean for the President to "take responsibility"?

This would be a great time to decide that we have more urgent things to do than to continue to support the war. We ask that you strongly urge the Congress to order an immediate plan for immediate troop withdrawal. That plan should include full medical and social assistance for those serving in the armed forces. It should not include more irresponsible tax cuts.

Every tax cut now will result in fewer services and more debt for all of us to pay into the future.

Sincerely yours,

Ellyn Stecker

writing on behalf of Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition.