Thursday, August 24, 2006

Whitehouse's "Wait & See" Middle East Policy Costs Lives

Rhode Island's 118,000 veterans and 4,000 guard troops need to know where Democratic U.S. Senate candidates really stands on middle east policies. Their lives are in the balance.

As a business owner, Marine Corps veteran and progressive Democrat challenger for Senator Lincoln Chafee's seat, I believe Sheldon Whitehouse's Iraq war and middle east positions are politically motivated and contribute to loss of life.

Sheldon's "wait and see" platform is confused. This is establishment politics. "Lieberman-light" so to speak. His "rapid and responsible" Iraq position did not emerge until sometime this year. His campaign staff last November was stating Sheldon supported Senator Reed's "stay the course" posture. However, Senator Reed's assessment changed in January of this year after his visit to Iraq. What does "rapid and responsible mean?" Iraq is in a civil war and our military is calling up more troops, not withdrawing, leaving our troops exposed on all sides. They're not going to support one side in this fight. That won't create regional stability. It's sure to break a promise to keeping our troops safe. On the other hand, Sheldon says he backs Bush's stance on Israel and the middle east with thousands of civilians killed and displaced. The only solution is to bring our troops home now and call on Europe and Arab nations to form a buffer to allow Iraq to have individual territories, as provided in their Constitution and as has occurred in the Czech Republic. The alternative is to facilitate a peace on the dime of middle east oil producers who have a vested interest in stability. Our taxpayers have had enough. A successful war on terrorism begins with better domestic security and supporting our troops and veterans.

Whitehouse has declined a half dozen debate challenges on this issue.

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