• Caucus of 73 Democratic members of the House of Representatives who seek a swift withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq
• 42 members of this Caucus are also members of the Progressive Caucus

On June 16, 2005, forty-one Democratic members of the House of Representatives formally established the Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus (OICC), an entity dedicated to agitating for a swift withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Iraqi theater of war -- alleging that the American invasion in 2003 had been launched on the pretext of lies and deliberately manipulated intelligence. The nominal co-founders of OICC were Maxine Waters (who chairs the organization), Lynn Woolsey, John Conyers, Charles Rangel, Barbara Lee, Jan Schakowsky, William Delahunt, and John R. Lewis.

As of September 2006, OICC's membership had grown to 73 House members, all Democrats. Forty-two of those 73 members also belonged to the Progressive Caucus, the Democratic Party's socialist wing.  

Announcing OICC's formation on June 21, 2005, Maxine Waters charged that nearly 2,000 U.S. soldiers had already lost their lives fighting on behalf of lies the Bush administration had told them. "Many of them went to serve because they thought that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11," said Waters. "But, of course, we know now that Saddam Hussein was not responsible for 9/11, and many of the soldiers know that now. … We all know now there were no weapons of mass destruction." Waters then quoted Cindy Sheehan's assertion that "The leadership of this country rushed us into an illegal invasion of another sovereign country on prefabricated and cherry-picked intelligence."

At the same June 21, 2005 event:

(a) Representative Barbara Lee said, "We know that the administration misled the American people and the world that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We knew that then."

(b) Lynn Woolsey accused the Bush administration of sending soldiers "to do a job that was not necessary. … There is no excuse for the United States to have started a war in Iraq." It would be vital, she added, for America to "work with the international world, get them all involved, so we can be doing the right thing for Iraq and the Iraqi people who are also being destroyed by this war." 

(c) Charles Rangel derided the very system by which the U.S. military's ranks had been filled, suggesting that recruits came disproportionately not "from communities that chief executive officers live in," but rather from "where the hopeless are in terms of unemployment." Accusing the U.S. of "rattling swords in North Korea" and "threatening Syria and Iran," Rangel recommended the softer approach of "go[ing] to the international community … and persuad[ing] those countries that terrorism is not just an American problem, it is an international problem, and with mutual respect, sit down and talk with them to see how we can bring peace to the Middle East."

Here is how the eight co-founders of OICC have voted on some of the most crucial national-security matters of recent years:

• On September 29, 2006, seven of the eight voted NO to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a bill authorizing military commissions to try unlawful enemy combatants charged with war crimes and acts of terrorism. (John Lewis did not cast a ballot on this bill.)
  
  
• On September 28, 2006, all except Lewis (who again cast no ballot) voted NO to the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act, a bill authorizing the government to use electronic surveillance to investigate potential terrorists.
  
  
• On September 21, 2006, all eight voted NO to the Immigration Law Enforcement Act, which affirmed the authority of state and local police to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
  
  
• On September 14, 2006, all except Delahunt voted NO to the Security Fence Act, a bill calling for the construction of 700 miles of double-layered fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
  
  
• On June 29, 2006, all eight voted NO to an Intelligence and Law Enforcement Resolution, "supporting intelligence and law enforcement programs to track terrorists and terrorist finances," and "condemning the disclosure and publication of classified information that impairs the international fight against terrorism and needlessly exposes Americans to the threat of further terror attacks by revealing a crucial method by which terrorists are traced through their finances."
  
  
• On June 16, 2006, all eight voted NO to a Global War on Terror Resolution, which stated that it was not in the interest of American security to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and which committed the U.S. to the "completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure and united Iraq."
  
  
• On December 16, 2005, all eight voted NO to a Border Security bill calling for the construction of 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border; requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to upgrade border surveillance and control; establishing an employment eligibility verification system forbidding the hiring of illegal aliens; facilitating the deportation of illegals; and earmarking $250 million annually to help state and local police agencies assist federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws.
  
  
• On July 21, 2005, all eight voted NO to the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act , whose purpose was to extend the authority of the FBI to conduct "roving wiretaps" and access certain business records through December 31, 2009, and to make the remaining provisions of the PATRIOT Act permanent. (Fully 71 of OICC's 73 members voted NO to this same bill. The other two caucus members did not vote for it because they were forbidden: Donna M. Christensen and Eleanor Holmes Norton are non-voting Delegates from the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, respectively.)
  
  
• On February 10, 2005, all eight OICC co-founders voted NO to the Real ID Act, which was aimed at preventing people from abusing the state driver's license process to obtain false identification.
  
  
• On May 18, 2004, all except Rangel (who did not cast a ballot) voted NO to the Homeland Security Department Authorization Act, a bill that would require hospitals to provide information on undocumented immigrants seeking emergency medical care; would make employers of some illegals financially responsible for the medical treatment of the latter; and would facilitate the deportation of illegals.
  
  
• On October 24, 2001, six of the eight voted NO to the USA PATRIOT Act; Rangel and Delahunt voted in favor of the measure.
  
  
• On October 12, 2001, all eight voted NO to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, a bill whose provisions would be incorporated into the USA PATRIOT Act twelve days later.
  
  
• On April 18, 1996, the four OICC co-founders who were members of Congress at that time all voted NO to the Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention Act, which sought to prohibit fundraising by terrorist groups in the U.S. and to facilitate the process of deporting illegal aliens and suspected terrorists.
  
  
• On March 14, 1996, the four OICC co-founders who were members of Congress at that time all voted NO to an Antiterrorism Bill whose intent was to give the government greater leeway in investigating, prosecuting, and punishing terrorists.

Of OICC's 73 members, 29 were signatories to a May 14, 2005 letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, calling for a special prosecutor to investigate claims that "high-ranking officials within the Bush Administration [had] violated the War Crimes Act … or the Anti-Torture Act … by allowing the use of torture techniques banned by domestic and international law at recognized and secret detention sites in Iraq, Afghanistan Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere."

OICC has been lauded by the antiwar group Code Pink for Peace. In July 2006, Lynn Woolsey, to demonstrate her Caucus's support for Code Pink's "Troops Home Fast" national hunger strike, announced that she would refrain from eating for one day as a symbol of her antiwar convictions.

In early January 2007, Maxine Waters participated in two briefing sessions with leaders of several antiwar groups including United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ), which is headed by the pro-Castro communist Leslie Cagan. The first meeting was organized by UFPJ; Waters initiated the second for input into how OICC ought to proceed.