Yesterday The Angry Rakkasan posted an informative diary entitled Frederick Kagan is an unqualified fraud: Read his CV here. The link to his/her excellent diary is HERE and I suggest you read it.
The House Armed Services Committee calendar today reflected that on 17 January (this Wednesday)the full committee will meet to receive testimony on alternative perspectives on the President's strategy for Iraq. Their witnesses will be:
Dr. William J. Perry
Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University
Dr. Lawrence J. Korb
Center for American Progress
And guess who....
Dr. Frederick W. Kagan
American Enterprise Institute....the neo-con boy wonder and History Professor that apparently talked Bush into believing a SURGE can win the war. More about each of these men below....and links to the members of the House Armed Services Committee and their telephone numbers and a suggestion on how we can make an impact on this hearing
Dr. Perry was Secretary of Defense for three years under Clinton and said upon his departure that his biggest accomplishment was "forming a very strong bond with our men and women in uniform." This man has real substance and you can read more about him HERE
Dr. Korb wrote an article on 11 January entitled
Stop the Surge: Escalating the War in Iraq is Wrong
Why the president's decision to escalate troops in Iraq will not make America safer. Congress must stop the escalation and develop a real strategy.
I urge you to read his article HERE.
Dr. Korb was a Naval Aviator for four years and retired as a Captain. His complete bio is HERE
Now for Dr. Frederick Kagan...
You can read about him in detail above but an article in TPM which you can read later here picked up a quote from the London Times saying:
It was at Camp David last June that Kagan, a military historian and fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, outlined his plans for pouring more troops into Iraq to Bush and his war cabinet.
Donald Rumsfeld, the then defence secretary, was unimpressed, but Kagan’s views got another hearing when Bush was searching for ways to ditch the seemingly defeatist recommendations of James Baker’s Iraq Study Group. "Wow, you mean we can still win this war?" a grateful Bush reportedly said.
My suggestion is that we make a concerted effort to contact the House Armed Services Committee stating that we question why the committee would seriously consider the testimony of Dr. Kagan since he has no personal practical experience in Military or National Defense affairs and is not qualified to testify on matters that might have any influence on the lives of our servicemen and women...our loved ones.
The contacts are:
HASC Fax: (202) 225-0850
Staff Telephone numbers are:
Loren Dealy (HASC) 202-225-2539
Lara Battles (Skelton) 202-225-2876 (For the Chaiman of the Committee)
and if you want to ice the cake, the complete list of the members of the HAS Committee is HERE
and when you find your state's representative on the committee you can get their phone number HERE
Call your Representative on the HASC...Democratic or Republican...and tell them Kagan isn't qualified to influence life and death decisions affecting our troops and our nation!