Kris Schultz

So, we know Friday that 13 Senators voted for a firm timetable of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Many of us also saw a wonderful performance by Senator Russ Feingold on Meet The Press, where he pointed out the fact that these 13 Senators stand strong with the majority of the U.S. public, who also support a firm timetable of withdrawl. Certainly it seems that the leaders of Iraq want us to go, too. Now we know our own military leaders were proposing pretty much the same thing to the Bush administration but were ignored. How frustrating is all this? How much more do we need to know? Where was the rest of the Senate?

Personally, I'm turning my energies towards expressing gratitude to those 13 Senators who are doing the right thing with their vote last Friday. I've specifically choosen to send a small donation to Senator Dan Akaka, as he is facing a reverse Leiberman/Lamont situation with a DLC/D-in-name-only/pro-Bush/pro-war Ed Case in a primary this September.

I've been saying all along that if as much ink were spent protecting a good incumbent like Akaka, we'd be doing a very good thing.

I just posted this on Mydd.com diary section, where I'm known as (surprise) schultzy. I just noticed a few typos - I need to stop posting my first drafts of things, don't I? Anyway.

I thought you guys would like to read it - the original post on mydd.com also has a poll that I started, and I urge you to go there and vote on my question, too:

The Faces of Those Two Soldiers Haunt Me...
by schultzy, Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:35:21 AM EST

My friend brought me a copy of the Express, a free publication from the Washington Post, when I was sick this week. This publication usually gets a quick flip-through, then a swift toss into the recycle bin. This one is different - the one from June 21. It has the pictures of Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca on the front. Their bodies were found on Tuesday. They were brutally executed - "barbaric killing" the paper says. But they are so young and handsome and innocent in these pictures, and it rips my heart out. I have kept these pictures face up on the table, and every time I pass it, I stare at them and am deeply sad.

I go through this with every new milestone the media announces - or every time NPR airs a profile on a dead soldier or any time I see one of those "soldiers who died today" lists on the news - I I am gripped in grief for a stranger. They are there fighting for us, so I do take it personally, even though I don't know these men and women. But I don't want them there for Bush's lie, and I get just as angry as I did the morning I woke up and saw Bush was elected President in 2004.

The public wants the war to end, but only 13 Senators voted for a firm timetable to withdraw our troops. Of the 13 includes my new cause: raising awareness that Senator Akaka is facing a primary challenge from a pro-war D-in-name-only. I am going to find a way to express my gratitude to him - probably send a small donation.

When is this war going to end? Unfortunately, not soon enough for these two beautiful young men who died. Why hasn't Bush been held accountable for the lies he told to get us in this bogus war, causing these two beautiful men, and over 2500 other soldiers, to die? I know I have to recycle this paper at some point, but I can't let them go.

Only 13 Senators voted to do the right thing yesterday, and the timetable seemed too long to me, in a sense. And yet only 13 did the right thing. Yep, the anger's back. I'm going to do the only thing I know to do - keep blogging, donate to a candidate or two (Akaka gets a small check of thanks from me today), and start to figure out a way to get back on the campaign trail. That's the only way I know to channel all this anger.


{UPDATE JUNE 25, 2006}
Gratitude to the following 13 Senators who stood up and voted the will of the American people:

Akaka (D-HI) Boxer (D-CA) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Harkin (D-IA)

Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Leahy (D-VT) Menendez (D-NJ) Wyden (D-OR)

There were two resolutions voted on today in the U.S. Senate. Both were calling for a withdrawl of troops from Iraq, and both times Senator Akaka did the right thing by supporting the troops and calling for a reasonable timetable for withdrawl.

His opponent in the primary in Hawaii, Ed Case, voted last week in Congress to rubberstamp Bush's failed Iraq war strategy.

Support Akaka!

I'm still following the Hawaii Senate primary, and I stumbled on another excellent reason to put the Akaka race at the top of your "MUST SUPPORT" list. Last Friday, Congressman Ed Case, who is challenging Senator Akaka in a primary this September, voted to support President Bush’s failed course in Iraq. Yet again we see Ed Case and his friends in the Republican Party rubberstamping the Bush Administration’s poor planning and mismanagement of the Iraq War.

Senator Akaka strongly support our troops, and believes, as I do, that we have the finest armed forces in the world and they are doing a great job.

Bush Republicans and their friend Ed Case (a.k.a. D-in-name-only) have failed to conduct oversight to make sure that our troops are properly equipped and have failed to demand accountability so that taxpayers’ dollars are not wasted on no-bid contracts for Halliburton.The Iraq War is straining our military and undermining the war on terrorism.Case, like Bush, wants to stay the course in Iraq, with an open-ended commitment and no end in sight.

Akaka wants to move us in a new direction – ensuring that 2006 is a year of significant transition with Iraqis assuming responsibility for their country and with the responsible redeployment of U.S. forces.

The best reasons to support Akaka over Case:

Ed Case rubberstamped the President’s mismanagement of Iraq – no oversight.

• The Bush Administration poorly planned the war -- rejecting the calls of military leaders for more troops, failing to provide adequate equipment for our troops, and wasting billions of taxpayers’ dollars on no-bid contracts for Bush cronies, such as Halliburton.
  
• A former commander of US Central Command, General Anthony Zinni said that “ten years worth of planning were thrown away; troop levels dismissed out of hand…these were not tactical mistakes, these were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policy made back here.” Our troops have suffered and no one has been held accountable.
• Soldiers and their families have been forced to purchase body armor – to ensure they have necessary protection when in Iraq. It took more than 18 months after the invasion of Iraq for all American soldiers to receive the body armor.
• All of the problems we see in Iraq today – the daily deadly attacks by insurgents, the rise of ethnic militias, the shortage of gas and electricity, the weakness of the economy – can be tied to the complete lack of planning by this Administration.
• Congress has a responsibility to ask questions and do oversight. On every significant issue related to Iraq -- Abu Ghraib, too few troops; soldiers having to literally put together scrap metal for ... their humvees; parents doing bake sales for Kevlar vests -- Congress has failed to ask the questions.

Republicans in Congress and their friend Ed Case rubberstamped Iraq reconstruction waste, fraud and abuse – no accountability.

• The United States has allocated $50 billion to private contractors for reconstruction and rebuilding efforts in Iraq – with $17 billion squandered on no-bid contracts for Halliburton.
• No bid contracts and overcharges have cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, projects remain incomplete, and billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenue have simply disappeared.
  
• Nearly $9 billion of Iraqi and U.S. funds for reconstruction was mismanaged by the U.S. led Coalition Provisional Authority and are unaccounted for. [Report of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, January 2006]
• Republicans and their friend Case in Congress have refused to demand accountability regarding the money going to Iraq – repeatedly rejecting the creation of a special investigating committee to ensure that taxpayer funds are being spent properly.

The Iraq War is straining our military.

• The Bush Administration’s poor planning for the Iraq War has strained our troops, with many units on their second or even third tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some troops are on their fourth deployments since 2001Army and Marine Corps units have more than 40 percent of their equipment deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the cost of repair and replacing Army equipment alone will be $36 billion.
  
• Retention rates and recruiting are being affected and some recruiting standards are being loosened.

This prolonged engagement in Iraq has undermined the war on terrorism.

• Because resources and attention have been diverted to Iraq, the job is not finished in Afghanistan.
  
• The Taliban is resurgent, Osama bin Laden is still on the loose, and the Afghan government does not control the countryside.

Bush Republicans and their friend Ed Case want to stay the course -- leaving us with an open-ended commitment – with no end in sight.

• The Bush Administration has refused to offer any plan for Iraq that will bring our men and women home, and has failed to even provide the American people with the mileposts and benchmarks that would define success and allow us to begin bringing home our troops.
• This spring, the President Bush conceded that troops would remain in Iraq after 2008, and the Administration has recently added 2 more brigades in Iraq.
  
• Ed Case supports the Bush Administration in this failed policy 100%.
  

In the blogosphere, you hear tons about Lieberman v. Lamont, but I want to bring another U.S. Senate primary to your attention. Senator Dan Akaka in Hawaii is up for reelection, and Congressman Ed Case is challenging him in the primary this fall.

Case has not been in congress long, but for the time he has been there, he has shown himself to be a Democrat-in-name-only. Case has said he supports Bush in Iraq, voted to fund it just as Bush wanted, supports the Patriot act, and even took up for Rummy and Cheney’s remarks about Guantanamo.

Basically, you can boil the race into one contrast:

Akaka = pro U.S. troop withdrawl & anti Bush’s failed Iraq war

Case=supports Bush and his war

With Akaka, you have the assurance of a senator who has carried water for Democrats and stood the test of time. However, reading the main blogs, you won’t hear much yet from progressives about Akaka, but you will hear conservatives backing Case. Well, I feel it is a much better use of our energies to fight off the DLC/in-name-only-democrat Ed Case, and protect a good incumbent who does represent progressive values.

If you’ve found yourself watching the Lieberman race because of the war, well, this is your race. Protect a good incumbent, and help it get more attention. Back Akaka.