I am the Afghanistan Blogging Fellow for The Seminal and Brave New Foundation. You can read my work on The Seminal or at Rethink Afghanistan. The views expressed below are my own.
Uh oh, looks like you are starting to have an effect on the war. Congress is freaking out, calling hearings, holding up so-called emergency funding, and demanding to know why it is that the longest war in US history has to go on even longer. All of this has led some to question the President's leadership altogether. Is he an effective, or even competent, Commander-in-Chief? Serious concerns about Obama's escalation policy are being raised, and it's likely to severely damage his presidency. Well, rather than using this opportunity to their advantage, the opposition party has opted instead to say something stupid:
Senate Republicans on Wednesday attacked President Obama’s plan to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan in July of next year, saying that the United States was sending a self-defeating message to its allies in the region. [...]
“Right now, we’re sounding an uncertain trumpet,” [Republican John] McCain said. “Our allies in the region are convinced that we’re leaving.” [...]
Ah yes, the old "exit strategy = defeat" meme. This is one of those annoying war myths that just won't go away, no matter how stupid it looks in the face of facts. Weirdly enough, it's often the argument made by people who claim to be "strong" on national security, when in reality it should call into question their grasp of even the mild complexities of war. This argument isn't just wrong, it's plainly stupid, and you only to have pay a little bit of attention to see why.
I was shaky on the war in Iraq when it started, but I was in college at the time-- and in AF-ROTC-- and I was given no right to speak my mind about it. I knew what could go right and I knew what could go horribly wrong.
Yesterday I made a snide comment about the Mobile, AL Teabaggers against healthcare protestors being stuck on stoopid. But are they really stuck on stoopid, or are they doing what we should be doing and to quote countrycat "organzing the cleanup"?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have to give the goppers credit where credit is due when it comes to organizing and taking a stand on principle, even if it's a misguided principle. They aren't afraid to "take it to the streets".
About 100 protesters from the Tea Party Patriots are outside Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack's office in Palm Springs waving signs and flags, and presenting her with pink slips that say "You're fired."
Look at the recent protest in Iran in the aftermath of the disputed aftermath of the Presidential election. Remember the Orange Revolution after the disputed Ukranian elections? Compare what happened after these elections to what didn't happen after the 2000 American Presidential election.
On election night, it became clear that Florida would be a contentious state. The national television networks (through information provided them by the Voter News Service, an organization formed by them and the Associated Press to help determine the outcome of the election through early result tallies and exit polling) first called Florida for Gore in the hour after polls closed in the eastern peninsula but before they closed in the heavily Republican counties of the western panhandle.
The North Alabama Peace Activist Network (NAPN)holds a Peace Rally every Saturday at 10 AM, at the intersection of Airport Road and Whitesburg Drive in Huntsville as they have been doing every since before the invasion of Iraq. Are they stuck on stoopid, or are they committed to their cause and willing to organize around that cause? I say they are the later. It is also an opportunity for other's committed to peace, economic and social justice, healthcare reform, GLGT rights, closing Gitmo and ending torture in our name to join them. They have organized the cleanup.
Does NAPN get media coverage like the Teabaggers do? No. But I'll bet if there was a large sign waving, diverse crowd of marching chanting protestors on the corner of Whitesburg Dr. and Airport Road the media would cover it, but more importantly our elected officials would notice too.
"When all the fingers on the hand work together it forms a mighty fist".~Mama Jo from the movie Soul Food.
Don't get me wrong, I feel the Iranian protestors' pain and disappointment in the outcome of their elections, but the media we have is all Iranian protest all the time. CNN, MSNBC, nor Faux News have reporters on the ground in Iraq, I mean Iran, so they are depending on twitter and facebook as the source of the information they diseminate. When I listen to the media we have reporting on the Iranian protest, it's like deja vu all over again. Remember the media led drum beat march to war in Iraq?
I know Iran is the total and complete focus of every media person on the planet right now, but in all honesty, I see stories like this one about the ongoing slaughter in Iraq all the time and I wonder where all the outrage and concern over this cornucopia of death and misery went?
We must laugh to keep from crying. Talking TeeVee Pundit Head translations from Sunday's Meet the Pest, I mean Press, with Sam Nunn and Grandpa Fred Thompson. h/t The Bobblespeak.
All Politics is local and our favorite right wing blog Flashpoint is all in a twitter (pun intended) because state house representative district 6 democratic candidate Jenny Askins turned down a chance to debate Phil Williams (r. teabagger ) on WHNT TV for 30 minutes. Jenny explains her reason for not wasting time on TeeVee when she could be connecting to voters face to face. Um, haven't I heard that somewhere before?
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. President Barack H. Obama 1/20/2009
I would like to make note there were over 2 million people at the inauguration of President Barack Obama and not 1 arrest. Not one protest. There were no so called "first amendment zones". No police brutality. The people were safe and free. God Bless America
(Updated 7:48 PM Alabama Time. - promoted by Redeye)
Seriously, the mainstream media, and the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads think you are stoopid and you are playing right into their hands with the Blagoveich/Burris made for TeeVee Scandal of the Week. Think about it, this is the same MSM and TTPH's that had you believing Saddam Hussien had tons and tons of WMD and were about to use them on us. The same MSM and TTPH's that had you believing there was a link between Saddam Hussien and 911. The same MSM and TTPH's that helped out an under cover CIA agent. We won't talk about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman, but do you get my drift?
The Democratic leadership's current contingency plan for next week is reportedly for Burris to be met at the chamber by a doorman telling him he's not allowed inside.
Psst! If you do this you will look like former Governor George C. Wallace standing in the school house door of the University of Alabama denying Attorney General nominee Eric Holders sister in law, Vivian Malone entrance. Is that really the image you want to protray to the American people? I don't think so. But that's just me.
Knowing what we know now, was the decision to invade Iraq good judgement or a mistake? Josh Segall mentioned this Montgomery Advertiser story on the Progressive Electorate blogtalkradio show this morning. At the time I had not read it, but after the show I looked it up and my jaw hit the floor. The MA asked all 4 Congressional candidates in the AL-02 and AL-03 races this question:
In retrospect, should we ever have invaded Iraq? Do you believe there has been a connection drawn between Iraq and terrorist organizations including al-Qaida?
AL-02 Republican candidate Jay Love's response was bad enough, including just about every George W. Bush tough guy platitude (my bold) in the book:
Absolutely. When Saddam Hussein was in power, he was very much a destabilizing force in that part of the world. He has invaded other countries. He was supplying arms and allowing terrorists to operate out of his country. And I think on Sept. 11, 2001, everything changed for this country.
We can't sit back within our borders and think that the rest of the world is going to play nice and that we can sit back and monitor from this country. We have got to take the fight to them. I would much rather be fighting the terrorists in Iraq or Iran or wherever it might be than over here in this country.
I think that Saddam Hussein killed hundreds of thousands of his own people. What we are providing the Iraqi people, though, is an opportunity, and I think having a democracy in that portion of the Middle East where you have these fundamentalists, terrorists and Islamic extremists that it provides a good opportunity for Democracy to take hold in that part of the world.
But the real jaw dropper is incumbent Republican Mike Rogers' response:
Rogers: First question is yes absolutely, and the second question is certainly. Al-Qaida is in Iraq and has been.
In case you lost track of the question, let's do it this way:
Montgomery Advertiser:In retrospect, should we ever have invaded Iraq?
Mike Rogers (R, Another Planet):Yes, absolutely.
Montgomery Advertiser:Do you believe there has been a connection drawn between Iraq and terrorist organizations including al-Qaida?
Mike Rogers (R, Cheney's World):Certainly. Al-Qaida is in Iraq and has been.
Jay Love didn't address the Al Qaeda in Iraq issue -- maybe he thought he was on shaky ground -- but Mike Rogers waded right in and said "Certainly. Al-Quaida is in Iraq and has been." That contradicts a Pentagon report which found there was no link between Iraq and Al Qaedabefore the U.S. invasion.
The U.S. military's first and only study looking into ties between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda showed no connection between the two, according to a military report released by the Pentagon.
The report released by the Joint Forces Command five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq said it found no "smoking gun" after reviewing about 600,000 Iraqi documents captured in the invasion and looking at interviews of key Iraqi leadership held by the United States, Pentagon officials said.
The assessment of the al Qaeda connection and the insistence that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction were two primary elements in the Bush administration's arguments in favor of going to war with Iraq.
The Canadian Prime Minister just admitted that the Iraq invasion was a mistake, earlier this year Gallup found 63% of Americans believe it was a mistake, but these two Republicans think Iraq has worked out just fine and, given the opportunity, they would do it again. We can't afford to send men with such poor judgement, even in hindsight, to Congress, or in Rogers' case, back to Congress. You can read the thoughtful responses of Democrats Bobby Bright and Josh Segall at the Montgomery Advertiser link above.
As Lehman Brothers fades to black, a detail buried deep in the company's past all but escapes attention: The nation's fourth-largest investment bank got its start in Montgomery nearly 160 years ago as a grocer and cotton merchant.
"It started right here," said Mary Ann Neeley, a Montgomery historian and volunteer with the Montgomery Landmarks Foundation. "They started taking cotton as payment for goods, then decided cotton itself was probably a better business. They did right well with it."
Thank goodness for state blogs. Burnt Orange has the scoop on the politics of Hurricane Ike and other useful info.
In the last 48 hours, there have been nearly a dozen mentioned in the Texas press about John Cornyn suspending his campaign, including the start of his paid advertising, because of the focus on Hurricane Ike recovery efforts.
Today, Texans in Austin, Dallas-Forth Worth, and Amarillo woke up to ads from Cornyn's campaign anyways. While the Cornyn campaign says they are working to get them off the air, as the AP story notes, they had originally planned them to start last Friday, the day Ike started pounding the Texas coast, which had been the predicted landfall date for about a week.
I can't believe Sexy Sarah and all the McCain lies that the media is willing to repeat ad nauseam is the reason for Obama's precipitous drop in the polls in New York. Maybe after Wall Street completely collapses people will regain their senses, but so far the only explanation I have is that a lot of people, even in a blue state, don't want to let the "uppity" black man move into in their "White House."
On afternoon conference call, Obama and Michigan Democratic officials say they are seeking an injunction to block alleged “caging” by the state GOP– using home foreclosure lists to seek to block residents from voting. Obama counsel Bob Bauer: “It is an absolute attack on their right to vote” and a “completely false and completely illegal basis” to challenge votes. “This is a standard operating procedure within the Republican party that’s been under legal challenge.”
Continuing his year long outreach out to Indies, Barack scheduled a visit to a remote location of Colorado, and we unexpectedly struck the kinda gold campaigns dream about.
Grand Junction, Colorado is located in GOP stronghold, Mesa county, which four years ago, delivered 67% of its vote to Shrub.
There are only 20,000 registered Democrats is the ENTIRE county.
It’s also an overlooked part of the map. In fact, it's not any political map. No, really.
Not one presidential candidate has visited Grand Junction, since Harry Truman's train stopped to refuel in 1948.
Think about that. Not a single visit, by anyone, in 60 years.
Therefore, it was a BIG FRIGGIN surprise when people began lining up for tickets this past SATURDAY morning at 5:30 AM!
The line eventually stretched SEVEN BLOCKS !!!
So what happened? Well, yesterday, Barack was greeted by a thunderous, overflowing crowd of 6,000.
250 dead US soldiers and 1445 wounded since Jan 08. That is the success of the "surge." The "surge" reduced violence "beyond our wildest dreams" even Obama said so. 250 dead is not a success or a "dream" by any standard. Just because the GOP and their media disciples chant "surge success" like a mantra, does not make it true.Obama should have said 250 dead Americans is not a success in my book.
Have you noticed the lack of Iran hatred lately? Can you say, the reduction in violence is due to the Shia takeover and Iranian influence in Iraq? If the surge is so successful then why does the US require 138,000 troops in Iraq? And why is it impossible for some 4.7 million refugees to return home if it is in fact much safer in Iraq?
From the Independent:
Ongoing violence is down, but Iraq is still the most dangerous country in the world. On Friday a car bomb exploded in the Shia market town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding 43 others. “The smoke filled my house and the shrapnel broke some of the windows,” said Hussein al-Dujaili. “I went outside the house and saw two dead bodies at the gate which had been thrown there by the explosion. Some people were in panic and others were crying.”...
...
If McCain wins the presidential election in November, his lack of understanding of what is happening in Iraq could ignite a fresh conflict. In so far as the surge has achieved military success, it is because it implicitly recognises America’s political defeat in Iraq. Whatever the reason for President George Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003, it was not to place the Shia Islamic parties in power and increase the influence of Iran in the country; yet that is exactly what has happened.
The surge only achieved the degree of success it did because Iran, which played a central role in getting Nouri al-Maliki appointed Prime Minister in 2006, decided to back his government fully. It negotiated a ceasefire between the Iraqi government and the powerful movement of Muqtada al-Sadr in Basra, persuading the cleric to call his militiamen off the streets there, in March and again two months later in the Sadrist stronghold of Sadr City. It is very noticeable that in recent weeks the US has largely ceased its criticism of Iran. This is partly because of American preoccupation with Russia since the fighting began in Georgia in August, but it is also an implicit recognition that US security in Iraq is highly dependant on Iranian actions.
This is from Votevets, to go along with their powerful new ad:
Senator McCain once said that if the Iraqis asked us to leave, we would have to leave. Those of us who served agree with that. Senator McCain now either has to back off his refusal to set a plan to leave Iraq, as Prime Minister Maliki requested a number of times in the past week, or tell the American and Iraqi people why he would overrule Iraq's government and turn our troops into an indefinite occupying force. Those are his only two options.
Now is not the time to send mixed messages to the Iraqis. Even the Bush administration is bending on timelines for redeployment. Senator McCain does more harm than good when he signals to the Iraqi government that their request for a timetable for redeployment is a non-starter. We should be supporting the Iraqi government, not undermining it.
Further, there is a real enemy to fight in Afghanistan. It is time to set our focus on destroying the real terrorist threat in the Afghansitan/Pakistan region. We cannot want to be in Iraq more than the Iraqis want us to be there. We cannot referee Iraq's political problems with troops, especially when we have a real job to do protecting America from the terrorists in Afghanistan. And, we cannot do it all.
I would phrase McCain's choices this way: Either agree with himself that since the legitimate Iraqi government is asking us to leave, we should leave, or disagree with himself and try to explain his flip-flop to the rest of us.
I don't for a minute believe that the torture depicted in the Abu Ghraib photographs was concieved and carried out by a few soldiers acting on their own. Never did and never will. The higher ups gave the orders, the grunts carried them out and when it's time for someone to take the fall, the grunts get to do that, too.
But I never realized there was an Alabama connection to Abu Ghraib until my Google alert on Mike Rogers directed me to this post where Philip Gourevitch is discussing his new book, Standard Operating Procedure. Emphasis is mine.
Read the "counseling statement" that Captain Christopher Brinson issued to Charles Graner one day at Abu Ghraib after Graner had walked a hooded prisoner into a wall and banged him up so badly that he - Graner - had to give the captive stitches. Brinson, whose civilian job was as the legislative director and homeland security liaison for Congressman Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican on the Armed Services Committee, wrote to his soldier: "CPL Graner you are doing a fine job... As the NCOIC of the 'MI Hold' are, you have many accolades from the MI units here and specifically from LTC Jordan. Continue to perform at this level and it will help us succeed at our overall mission." As Sergeant Javal Davis said of Graner, "He got an attaboy!"
Was Graner a sadist? Perhaps. But it required a much larger climate of command permission and approval for him to give expression to his dark impulses. Now Graner is serving a ten year sentence, while Brinson has never been held to account for the conduct of his troops whom he visited on most nights on the MI block at Abu Ghraib.
I'd never heard that anyone on Rogers' staff was associated with the mess at Abu Ghraib. So I Googled Brinson's name. And there he is in this article (advertisement first) by Mark Benjamin and Michael Scherer saying that higher-ups were responsible for what happened at Abu Ghraib.
U.S. Army Reserve Capt. Christopher R. Brinson, who in civilian life works as the deputy chief of staff for Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, was directly in charge of some of the military police later prosecuted for abuse at Abu Ghraib during the notorious autumn of 2003. Brinson received the reprimand in January 2006, but it had not been revealed publicly until his attorney, David P. Sheldon, confirmed it to Salon Thursday, noting that Brinson has since submitted a rebuttal to the Army. The attorney would not reveal the exact reason for Brinson's punishment.
Through Sheldon, Brinson told Salon that he was unaware of his soldiers' actions, and blamed superior officers for what happened at the prison.
Captain is a pretty superior position in the Army and, given Brinson's civilian experience, he should have known when he and the soldiers under his command were being asked to perform illegal acts -- that's the bright line soldiers are not supposed to cross, even if ordered to do so.
Graner said he told Brinson, "MI wants us to do this. That's not our job." According to Graner, Brinson replied, "Hey, our mission is to support MI. Do what they tell you to do."
Even when "what they tell you to do" involves covering up a homocide, apparently. This is also from the Salon article:
According to Brinson's statement, because of his position of authority at Abu Ghraib, he was awakened early on Nov. 4, 2003, after al-Jamadi died during CIA interrogation in a shower at the prison. Brinson said he arrived in the shower at Abu Ghraib to find a nervous CIA interrogator who said, "This guy just died on us." Brinson said al-Jamadi was lying on the ground face up with a bloody eye that Brinson was told could have come during an earlier struggle when al-Jamadi was captured. Brinson said he saw blood on the floor, according to the CIA report.
Brinson said that at the request of the CIA, he ordered his military police to put al-Jamadi's body in a body bag and fill it with ice until the CIA could arrange to move him.
Brinson also said he ordered the military police to clean up the scene, according to an account by an agent with the CIA Office of the Inspector General. "Brinson advised that he might have ordered the MPs ... to clean the blood smudge from the cell's floor," the agent's account related. Brinson said he ordered the room cleaned to avoid biological hazards.
The next day CIA ordered the removal of al-Jamadi's body by putting him on a stretcher with an IV in his arm so he would appear only ill, not dead.
According to Errol Morris (co-author of Standard Operating Procedure) Brinson didn't decide to take these actions on his own, by any means. After Manadel al-Jamadi, inconveniently died while being interrogated:
The top brass at the prison — essentially everyone who was anyone — were present and involved in a heated discussion of what to do next.[17] According to Jordan, [Col. Thomas] Pappas made it clear that he wasn’t going to take the fall for what amounted to the death of an O.G.A. prisoner. [18, 19]
So why have the Charles Graners and Lyndie Englands been prosecuted, convicted and locked up, while Brinson and everyone above him in the chain of command got off with a slap on the wrist or less. And by "everyone above him," I mean all the way to Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George Bush, as well as the CIA operatives and folks wearing military uniforms who knew darned well they were ordering their people to perform illegal acts. And sullying the good name of the United States while they were at it.
Honestly, this makes me madder than anything else the Bush administration has done to us. They've made us -- all of us -- accessories to torture no one in charge has been held accountable for it.
Late Wednesday, House "Democratic" Leader Steny Hoyer announced a deal with George Bush to give him $165B more for Iraq without bringing a single soldier home. And Hoyer wants the Democratic Congress to pass the bill today (Thursday) - before the 68% of Americans who oppose the disastrous occupation get ourselves organized.
So please pick up the phone right now and tell your House Representative to vote NO on wasting $165 billion more in Iraq.
Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your House Representative (not Senators) by name, or find your House Representative's name and direct dial by entering your address on the right side: http://usalone.com
On May 15, your passionate calls persuaded 149 Representatives to vote NO, and we shocked Steny Hoyer by winning that vote 149-141. We can win again if you call today.
Don't accept any excuses from your Representative. If (s)he says (s)he is voting yes to fund new GI college benefits, flood relief, and unemployment benefits, tell your Representative those programs have overwhelming support and should be passed separately, not combined with $165B for Iraq. Tell your Representative you will only accept a NO vote on Iraq funds.
Steny Hoyer is also behind the FISA telecom sellout. He's a serious disappointment to progressive Democrats.
Here's a clue: Women have no desire to bear children, nurture them, love them and raise them just so they can become cannon fodder in an old man's war. Period. Not even devout conservative, Christian, pro-life women. Women know the human potential of our children is better used for a higher purpose. Helping people, instead of killing them. Building civilizations, instead of tearing them down. Today's Republicans just don't get this.
The Republican party is now firmly aligned with a policy of perpetual war -- wonderful if you're Halliburton or any other part of what the Anniston Star calls the Military Industrial Contractual Complex, not good at all if you have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and so forth on their way to military age.
This ad from MoveOn is a perfect example of the reason Republicans have a problem attracting women voters, the reason Republicans and John McCain will lose among women and probably lose the election in the fall.
Our resident right winger linked to the ad yesterday, and we were not appropriately shocked and mortified. Brian, a right wing Alabama blogger, says "It's not your choice, lady." We know that. We also know that if there isn't a war, our kids and grandkids will choose to do something else with their lives. Something more productive.
And that's a choice we can make, this year, this election. Tell them, "Put an end to your war soon, because you're not getting our babies, too!"
John McCain's little "not too important" when the troops come home gaffe this morning isn't an isolated incident. He really believes there's no problem with keeping an occupying force in Iraq for the foreseeable future. That would be my lifetime, your lifetime and your kids' lifetimes.
And, make no mistake, McCain is talking about an occupation. The Iraqis don't want us to stay. This is from the Washington Post today:
"The Americans are making demands that would lead to the colonization of Iraq," said Sami al-Askari, a senior Shiite politician on parliament's foreign relations committee who is close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "If we can't reach a fair agreement, many people think we should say, 'Goodbye, U.S. troops. We don't need you here anymore.' "
This is what DNC Chairman Howard Dean said about McCain's remark:
"Senator McCain is wrong. One of the most important questions in this campaign is when and how Senator McCain would bring our troops home from Iraq. Senator McCain stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that the American people do not want our brave troops in Iraq for 100 years under any circumstances. They want a president who will end the war responsibly."
"McCain's statement today that withdrawing troops doesn't matter is a crystal clear indicator that he just doesn't get the grave national-security consequences of staying the course -- Osama bin Laden is freely plotting attacks, our efforts in Afghanistan are undermanned, and our military readiness has been dangerously diminished.
John McSame: Wrong on Iraq, same as Bush was wrong on Iraq.
"But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November."
"The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq – a victory that he says Mr Obama would throw away by a premature military withdraw.."
Note: Mooncat here, piggybacking on Felicia's post. ThinkProgress notes that an Nadeem Al-Jaberi, member of the Iraq parliament said as many as 70% of Iraqis might be in favor of withdrawal. He also said the gigantic U.S. Embassy is not helping our public image in Iraq:
AL-JABERI: It is certainly larger than the diplomatic mission for which it has arrived for. … I mean why do we need 3,000 employees in an embassy in Iraq if we consider it as a diplomatic mission like any other diplomatic mission? From the principle of reciprocity, would it be appropriate for Iraqis to establish a 3,000 employee embassy in Washington? … It [the embassy] certainly would not be a very positive signal to the Iraqi people.
Check out this excerpt from a USA Today story online.
"CBS became the first old-line network to broadcast the emerging "sport" of mixed martial arts in prime time. MMAcombines punches, kicks and grappling in an activity that Sen. John McCain once compared to "human cockfighting." McCain has since backed away from that description, but he might have had it right the first time."
I confess that I do not care a whit what CBS chooses to air, nor do I mean to present a discourse on how low Americans have sunk in their choice of entertainment. No, my interest was piqued by the good Senator from Wishy-washy once again being unable to display any firmness of opinion or judgement.
The next post down is a statement from 4th District candidate Greg Warren taking incumbent Robert Aderholt to task for voting against the New GI Bill yesterday.
Representative Aderholt, who has never served a single day in uniform for our country, shows his lack of support for our hardworking military personnel by his vote in opposition of the New GI Bill. This is just another example of Representative Aderholt turning his back on the hardworking citizens of his own district and the nation. As a U. S. Navy veteran, I understand the need to stand behind and support our wonderful men and women in uniform.
Of course, Aderholt was not the only Alabama Republican to vote "NO" on the benefit package for returning veterans. In their usual lockstep fashion, ALL THE ALABAMA REPUBLICANS VOTED AGAINST IT. Although 32 Republicans voted in favor of the measure, Spencer Bachus, Jo Bonner, Terry Everett and Mike Rogers joined Robert Aderholt in voting against expanded educational benefits for veterans.
This afternoon, the House of Representatives made history. By an overwhelming margin, lawmakers passed the landmark new GI Bill which will make college affordable to the more than 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
As President Roosevelt said when he signed the original GI Bill for veterans of World War II,
"[The GI Bill] gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down."
The House of Representatives renewed that promise. This is a tremendous and bipartisan commitment to our troops. We've seen enough bumper sticker and lapel pin patriotism; today, we saw the real thing.
Bumper sticker and lapel pin patriotism ... we've let our Representatives get by with that for too darned long. It's time for a change. Let's send some real patriots to Washington in November, like Greg Warren in AL-04 and his counterparts in Alabama's 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts, too.
* Rieckhoff is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Executive Director and Founder of IAVA (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America) -- he knows what real patriotism looks like from the inside.
T.H.E. Social Work Agency Adoption home studies & care management services in the North Alabama area.
Licensed, certified, caring social workers. blog advertising is good for you
