(IL-13) Scott Harper sends an open letter to Judy Biggert
Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 04:37:30 PM PDT
This is the first of what will be many diaries here from the Scott Harper campaign. After the jump is an open letter we just sent to all the local papers in the IL-13th. We'll see if any print it.
In the coming days I'll be writing a bio piece about Scott whom I met at Yearly Kos and helped recruit to run against House non entity Judy Biggert. Scott will also be posting in the near future himself.
While most of our sitting reps and senators don't have much to say about "Small Price" Boehner's comments Scott does. Read on for more info and if you'd like to learn more about him or send some cash his way (we're gonna need a lot) here's the webpage:
http://www.scottharperforcongress.co...
On Wednesday September 12, Republican House leader John Boehner responded to a question by Wolf Blitzer on CNN about the cost of the War in Iraq in not only money but "in blood, the Americans who are killed every month" by saying "the investment that we're making today will be a small price if we're able to stop al Qaeda here, if we're able to stabilize the Middle East, it's not only going to be a small price for the near future, but think about the future for our kids and their kids.".
To call the sacrifices our military men and women make in any conflict a "small price" let alone in one with such dubious prospects of stopping Al Qaeda or stabilizing the Middle East shows the ignorance and insensitivity of Congressman Boehner. Many of these soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen will not have a future, many will not be coming home to their families, and many will never have kids.
I call on all Republican House and Senate members and specifically my opponent Judy Biggert to repudiate Boehner's comments.
We must never again go to war with such poor preparation and shifting motives. But regardless of one's stance on the War in Iraq it must be made abundantly clear that the deaths and wounds sustained by our military are never a small price to pay. Their well-being must be one of the primary considerations when any president sends us to war whatever the reasons. As a practical matter Boehner's comments can only hurt our faltering Army recruitment efforts.
Our children and our children's children will be paying for this fiasco financially for decades to come. We will be digging our international reputation out the hole George Bush and his Republican enablers in congress have dug for us for years. But worst of all there is no excuse for treating our military men and women as if they are expendable pawns, their lives a "small price" to pay. It's bad for morale, it's bad for the military and it's bad for the country. All Americans deserve better leadership than that.
Scott Harper
Democratic Candidate for the US House Illinois 13th Congressional District
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