Aug

19

Obama to FL vets: “I will let no one question my love of this country.”(0)

Sen. Obama spoke to an audience of Veterans of Foreign Wars in Orlando, FL today, and chided John McCain for suggesting that Obama’s foreign policy positions were based on his own political interest, spoke in frank terms about the lack of political reconciliation in Iraq in the wake of the surge, and how Iraq has diverted attention away from the real central front in the war on terror.

The LA Times has more:

On Iraq, the Illinois senator said that while the surge may have worked militarily, it has failed politically.

“We have lost over a thousand American lives and spent billions of dollars since the surge began, but Iraq’s leaders still haven’t made hard compromises or substantial investments in rebuilding their country,” he said. “And while we pay a heavy price in Iraq — and Americans pay record prices at the pump — Iraq’s government is sitting on a $79-billion budget surplus from windfall oil profits.”

On Afghanistan, Obama said that the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan is now “the central front in the war on terrorism,” where the Taliban is resurgent and “Osama bin Laden and the same terrorists who killed nearly 3,000 Americans on our own soil are hiding and plotting seven years after 9/11.”

Declaring that “this is a war that we have to win,” Obama pledged that “as commander in chief, I will have no greater priority than taking out these terrorists who threaten America, and finishing the job.” He also called for what he termed an Afghanistan strategy of “more for more,” more from NATO allies, more from the Afghan government, more from the U.S. military.

On Pakistan, Obama said that for years he has argued the need to move from “a Musharraf policy” to “a Pakistan policy.” Now that President Pervez Musharraf has resigned, he said, “we will have the opportunity to do just that.” He advocated tripling non-military aid while making sure that military aid is targeted on fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Click here to read the full article.

McCain Tries To Steal Credit for New G.I. Bill(0)

In a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), John McCain tried to take credit for Senator Jim Webb’s 21st Century GI Bill, claiming that he fought for “a better bill” while the Webb GI Bill, that was passed by the Senate by a margin of 75-22, was “flawed legislation.” This distortion of the truth comes as one more example of the Republican candidate presenting himself as a friend to veterans when his legislative record indicates otherwise.

As a political proposition, it would have much easier for me to have just signed on to what I considered flawed legislation. But the people of Arizona, and of all America, expect more from their representatives than that, and instead I sought a better bill. I’m proud to say that the result is a law that better serves our military, better serves military families, and better serves the interests of our country.

McCain calling the Webb-Hagel bill “flawed legislation” is particularly galling because that’s the bill that eventually passed, not McCain’s own. Then McCain immediately takes credit for the benefits derived from the version he opposed.

The bi-partisan Webb-Hagel bill received widespread support in the Senate and from veterans’ organizations, but fierce opposition from McCain and President Bush. A comprehensive overhaul of the original, the new GI Bill extends up to 36 months of educational benefits, the equivalent of four academic years, to service members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, covering expenses for tuition, books, and other fees. Veterans can also receive a $1000-a-month living stipend and have a longer window of time - 15 years - during which to use their educational benefits.

The Webb-Hagel GI Bill was endorsed by the VFW, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), the Air Force Sergeants Association (AFSA), the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

Instead of supporting this important extension of benefits to our brave soldiers involved in our current wars, McCain chose to draft his own proposal with Senator Lindsey Graham. Their version would have increased education benefits for only active duty servicemembers from $1100 per month to $1500, and to $2000 for members who served on active duty more than 12 years. But this proposal unfortunately left a lot of servicemen and women out in the cold.

The VFW also took a dim view of McCain’s proposal. According to Eric Hilleman, the VFW’s Deputy Director for Legislative Affairs, called the Graham-Burr-McCain draft “very partisan and is seen as a way to convolute the GI bill, or to slow the Webb-Hagel proposal down.”

For his part, Senator Obama has been a steadfast supporter of Webb’s bill, saying in May, “At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.”

Fortunately for our brave brothers and sisters in the military, McCain’s draft failed to garner support and the Webb-Hagel GI Bill was passed into law on June 30, a vote that McCain was absent for. He was at a fundraiser in California.

McCain can’t claim credit for a bill he opposed and we can’t let this distortion of the truth pass unchallenged. We have to hold our candidates to their record. Obama voted for the Webb GI Bill. McCain didn’t even show up.

Obama Gets Specific On Veterans’ Issues In New Interview(0)

On Monday, Stars and Stripes published an interview with Senator Barack Obama addressing the many challenges facing the military and how he would go about fixing them were he to become president. Obama first touches on his opposition of the “surge” in Iraq and Iran as a nuclear threat, and then gets into real specifics on veterans’ issues: the GI Bill, stop-loss, the draining of the National Guard, recruitment and retention, and the many problems facing the VA and how we can fix them.

On the GI Bill and veterans’ benefits:

I feel very strongly that the strategy for maintaining the excellence of our all-volunteer forces can’t depend on stinginess once they get out. We should give the same kinds of benefits that my grandfather got after World War II, when he got the GI Bill and the GI Bill paid for college.

The GI Bill prior to this bill simply had not been keeping up with inflation. It had watered down these benefits. You can’t tell me that troops today are any less courageous or any less willing to sacrifice than those of an earlier generation.

Whatever effects this may have on retention, I believe, are more than made up for in enhancements in recruitment.

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

Deployed Troops Donating 6:1 to Obama(0)

This is a shocking figure. While figures among military personnel overall are more evenly spread, donations from troops stationed overseas at the time of their donation have given $60,642 to Barack Obama’s campaign, compared to $10,665 for McCain.

From OpenSecrets.org:

During World War II, soldiers crouching in foxholes penned letters assuring their sweethearts that they’d be home soon. Now, between firefights in the Iraqi desert, some infantrymen have been sending a different kind of mail stateside: two or three hundred dollars — or whatever they can spare — towards a presidential election that could very well determine just how soon they come home.

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain’s haul.

Despite McCain’s status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall — whether stationed overseas or at home — are also favoring Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin. Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama.

Since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain has tried to pull financial support away from our troops currently serving by opposing to the 21st Century GI Bill, suggesting privatization of the VA, and proposing that the VA only cover combat injuries. Apparently our deployed forces are returning the favor.

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