Can you feel it? The winds are shifting. President Bush"s highly publicized speech today was nothing but a feeble and desperate attempt to defend the war by an administration on the run.

The growing public call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq has led Bush to outline a "strategy for victory" in Iraq -- where the insurgency grows ever stronger and attacks on U.S. troops are more frequent and more lethal. And last weekend in Cairo, an unprecedented alliance of 100 Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders, representing virtually all of Iraq"s political factions, issued a joint statement calling for an end to the U.S occupation.

It"s no wonder Bush delivered his speech at the U.S. Naval Academy - any audience more representative of the U.S. public would have laughed him, and his "plan for victory," off the stage.

Three years ago, when the Bush Administration led us into this disastrous war, we stood with millions around the world saying no. We said that the war was unjustified, based on lies, and fundamentally unwinnable. We were right. Today, as we listen to the same president telling us that things are moving in the right direction and we need to stay the course, we can hardly believe the degree of arrogance and self-delusion.

The good news is that more and more people are speaking out against this war. New voices are being heard in Congress, mainstream media outlets are asking questions, even military people are saying it is time to end the war. And in an amazing poll done by Elon University, only 19% of active military personnel, reservists and veterans in North Carolina (home to major military bases) said the war in Iraq was "worth fighting" in the first place!

As we keep the pressure on the Bush administration we need to expand our efforts aimed at Congress. They are on recess right now and many members are in their home districts. Stop by their offices and let them know what you think. More than $200 billion of our tax dollars have already been squandered and it"s time for our representatives to take action to stop the war in Iraq and bring the troops home.

Next Tuesday, Dec. 6th, Congress re-convenes in Washington, DC. United for Peace and Justice, working with Win Without War, is organizing what we hope will be the largest Congressional Call-In Day in this country"s history. We want to make sure that the Washington, DC offices of every senator and representative get an avalanche of phone calls and email and faxes that day. We will send you another notice with the details of this call-in day. You can visit our website now at URL TK to download and distribute leaflets promoting this important day of action.

Finally, at this critical juncture on our work, we must again ask for your financial support. If each of you took a moment right now to donate $10 to UFPJ we would raise enough money to cover our expenses for the coming year! Whatever you can do, please help to ensure that we are as strong as we can be at this moment. Your donations make it possible for us to do this work, and we need your help now.

The Bush Administration is desperate and defensive ?but every day, U.S. soldiers and Iraqis are still dying for this terrible mistake. Now is the time to redouble our efforts to bring all our troops home -- immediately.