An organization called Move America Forward has helped organize a trip for a group of seven parents of slain GI's to travel to Iraq. You can read the AP story here on Yahoo. The focus of the AP story revolves around Joe and Jan Johnson. I believe this is the same Corporal Joe Johnson that volunteered to return to Iraq to seek revenge on his son's death. (I will address that in an update since that is not the focus of this blog.) Move America forward call itself on its website:
Move America Forward is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization committed to supporting America’s efforts to defeat terrorism and supporting the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.
That is hardly the case
Right below that above mentioned link is a list of names that proudly lists all of the principal players in this organization.
MAF Board of Directors and Staff:
The Honorable Howard Kaloogian – Founder
Melanie Morgan – Chairman
Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson – Board Member
Lew Uhler – Member, Advisory Board
Sal Russo – Chief Strategist
Robert Dixon - Acting Executive Director
Howard Kaloogian is a Republican. A Quick check of the FEC donor database tells us that Howard donated a wee sum of 250 dollars to Howard Kaloogian for congress. Wikipedia gives us a long laundry list of Howard Kaloogian misleading statements. I am not going to delve into the man's misdeeds here, but Wiki will tell ya all about it. My only conclusion on Howard? He is a Republican.
Melanie Morgan is also a proud card carrying member of the right wing. You can click on the link on the Move america forward website to learn all about her "conservative" activities. I also wonder if this is the same melanie morgan that donated to the California Republican Party pac.
Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson has made a career out of bashing Clinton and doing his duty by informing us of the dangerous liberals destroying our military. Robert Patterson carried the "Football" during Clinton's term and also publishes in the conservative magazine Human events. Nothing hard or specific came up under an FEC search, but Col Patterson has no qualms about voicing his opinion about liberals.
Lew Uhler has ties to Ronald Reagan and numerous tax reduction schemes. Lewis Uhler's name didn't yield any results in FEC which is surprising considering his ties.
Sal Russo is another that got his start in the Ronald Reagan governorship. Frankly though, Mr. Russo doesn't really look like a fun party guest and therefore I'm not going to delve to deeply into him.
So who is the acting director of this organization?
Robert Dixon.
I wonder who he is? Well according to his own website he is this guy:
Robert Dixon joined Move America Forward in July 2005. He has played an instrumental role in a number of the organization's efforts including the "I Love America" Art Exhibit where his submission "American Flag" received rave reviews. Dixon led the staff of Move America Forward on the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" caravan that traveled across the United States from San Francisco, California to Crawford, Texas. Soon thereafter he led the staff on the "We Support Our Troops AND Their Missions" bus tour from Sacramento, California to Washington, D.C. stopping for pro-troop rallies in over 20 American cities along the way. He is currently organizing the "They Didn't Die in Vain - Gold Star Families to Iraq" program and looks forward to seeing first hand the progress being made in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dixon graduated with a degree in Finance from California State Sacramento.
Charming fellow don't you think? I'll bet he probably sees himself as young up and comer in the Republican Party. Unfortnately, it seems that Robert Dixon is too common a name to pinpoint which individual this associated with for zoominfo or google
So what is the point of all this? A partisan, heavily republican and conservative organization masquerading as a non-profit arranged for seven groups of parents to fly to Iraq to see where they died.
Greg Bluestein reported:
Robert Dixon, the organization's director, said that because the Kurdistan Regional Government was hosting the group, there was no reason to clue the Defense Department in on their travels. He told them to keep tightlipped because "we didn't want to endanger anybody by telling people."
Frankly, that makes me wonder what the agenda of someone is more so than convince me they know things about security. Kurdistan? Yeah, Kurdistan is largely untouched and has been autonomous since 1990. Greg Bluestein reports Jan Johnson as saying:
... she hopes to help lead another trip, possibly to Baghdad, with a larger contingent of families.
I hope she does, and I hope she does it without the influence of a partisan organization.
Another parent, Debra Bastian was quoted as saying:
"All of us were very, very disappointed in the media coverage over the war. I had so many avenues that were telling me different, that there were good things happening in Iraq, that they were just reporting the bomb of the day."
Yes, Debra I heartily agree the Bombs in Iraq are hardly a story. Robert H. Reid of AP reported 2600 plus IED's in all of Iraq in the month of July. Such a large number of bombs hardly makes an IED news anymore and its time we start reporting on the good things in Iraq. Like the Kurds. If someone has AP archive access I would appreciate a link.