It’s Veterans who have the power to get those Veterans elected too. We have a lot of military groups here on Daily Kos and that's who I’m looking to for leadership. I really don’t know the first thing about the military.
On his website Doug Applegate (retired Colonel Applegate) says:
We must ask informed questions about the cost and duration in terms that will tally the true cost in blood and treasure to resolve a struggle best described as a fight for the soul of Islam, pitting Muslim against Muslim. Even more troubling, would ever Congress ask the right questions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about another land war in Southwest Asia:
1.How many young American sons & daughters [and perhaps grandsons & grand daughters as well] would deploy to fight another asymmetrical insurgency war? [at a minimum requiring 20 to 25 counterinsurgents for every 1000 residents in an AO; i.e. more than 600,000 soldiers & Marines for an Iraqi population of 34 million]
2.How long will this asymmetrical insurgency war last? [protracted, defined by the Joint Chiefs as twenty more years of combat after the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam]
3.At what cost? [over $5-6 trillion, conservatively]
U.S. military existing doctrine and doctrine recently developed addresses these questions in ARMY FIELD MANUAL 3-24: COUNTERINSURGENCY (15 DEC 2006) "This field manual/Marine Corps warfighting publication establishes doctrine (fundamental principles) for military operations in a counterinsurgency (COIN) environment." In the Middle East, the answers will end not with a declaration of a strategic mission accomplished, but instead in a declaration of bankruptcy for the Nation.
“would ever Congress ask the right questions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff”
We talked about this on the phone, Doug Applegate telling me that the military are trained a certain way and you have to know how to ask them questions. What popped into my head immediately was this scene from the West Wing:
That’s when I pretty much knew that I wasn’t the person to write about these great military candidates that we have running for office. I wasn’t worried though because I also knew we had great military groups here at Daily Kos who could do the job and do it well.
You can find a list of the candidates here at 90for90. Congress doesn’t just need candidates with military experience they also need candidates who think voting is important. Everyone on this list agrees, which is why they support 90for90.
CA 20th CD — Jimmy Panetta
CA 49th CD — Doug Applegate
CO 5th CD — Misty Plowright
FL 1st CD — Steven Specht
IN 5th CD — Angela Demaree
IA 3rd CD — Jim Mowrer
NC 2nd CD — John McNeil
UT 1st CD — Peter Clemens
VA 9th CD — Derek Kitts
FL- US Senate — Pam Keith
MO- US Senate — Jason Kander
SD- US Senate — Jay Williams
I want to encourage anyone interested to write on and write soon. Some of these guys have primaries in just a few days. A list of all military veterans is here www.90for90.org/...Please be sure to include their donation buttons.