Organizing for America | War Veterans for Obama 08

People seem to agree that a continuing decrease in the level of violence in Iraq is a helpful scenario politically for republicans. It reaffirms their position that the surge is a success and the war is winnable. I keep hearing about the importance of stabilizing Iraq and stabilizing the Middle East.

The argument has been one of definitions. What is victory in Iraq? What is a stabilized Middle East?

But are we asking the right questions? Are we having the right argument?

In one of the presidential debates Dennis Kucinich reminded us that we can't talk about stabilizing the Middle East without mentioning the role America has played in its destabilization. This brings us to some better questions. How stable is the Middle East now compared to before the invasion? How strong is the anti-American sentiment now compared to before the invasion? How many people die in Iraq each day compared to before the invasion? Are there more terrorists willing to kill Americans now compared to then? If America is not wanted in the Middle East but continues to exert its power there, are Middle Easterners just going to lay down and say "well if Amercia doesn't want to leave I guess we just better stabilize ourselves".

Is it really an improvement that car bombs have decreased from last month or last year? How many were there before the occupancy that left so many dead and wounded? I don't remember hearing about any car bombs in Iraq until we got there.

Enough talk about stabilizing. Enough talk about victory. Lets talk reconciliation. Lets talk defense not offense. But if we must talk victory and stabilization... How about stabilizing our economy? How about a victory for the hungry and impoverished?

There is nothing wrong about wanting to win, unless you're talking about a war.

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Centre County PA Resident, Lifelong Republican and Desert Storm Veteran Supports Barack

By Veterans For Obama - Volunteer Outreach Director - Apr 10th, 2008 at 9:05 am EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

I hear it all the time, “Bad news, somebody stuck an Obama sticker on your pickup truck.” My friends are puzzled. Why would an ex-Navy, small business owners, defense contractors, hard line, former lifelong Republican, support Barack Obama? Shouldn’t I be supporting John McCain?

No I should not.

As a former Naval Officer and co-owner of a very small defense contracting company, the issue closest to my heart is the military. John McCain’s Republican policies are ruining our military. Specifically, we are pinned to a losing position in Iraq, contractors and lobbyists run the military for corporate profit and top down leadership is corrupting our military culture. Iraq: A huge mistake. Our troops are pinned down and wasting away. Today we can still leave on our terms and stop the hemorrhage. If we wait until the inevitable next theater, next battle or next upheaval in Iraq, we will leave on very unfavorable terms and will emerge with greatly reduced military capability. Iraq is a keystone issue for Barack Obama. Nobody doubts his position and judgment on Iraq. I might have supported him based on just that position alone, but problems with today’s military go far deeper.
Contractors and lobbyists: Since 9/11 American’s have stopped questioning our huge investment in military programs, it’s not considered patriotic. But where is all that money going? Where are the new ship classes, tanks, aircraft, anti-ballistic missiles, and advanced surveillance satellites?   These programs are all over budget and delayed. What’s gone wrong?

Lobbyists have convinced Republicans to outsource the military. The largest defense contractors now do much more than just build weapons systems. Their lobbyist’s write the legislation that determines how we spend our military budget, and their managers run the acquisition programs. They run the programs to maximize shareholder profit – not to deliver military capability. Meanwhile, uniformed military, who presumably know the most about what the military actually needs, are pushed to the sidelines and relegated to the role of powerless spectators and contract administrators.   “The fox is in charge of the hen house” and the military pays. All of this is happening under the noses of both presidential candidates on the Senate Armed Services Committee, yet neither Hillary Clinton nor John McCain challenge these trends. Barack Obama will end the days of corporations and lobbyists running our government. His actions speak louder than words.   He rejects lobbyists and special interest groups by refusing their political contributions, not staffing his campaign with top lobbyists and releasing his earmark lists.

Military Culture: For the last seven years, our real military experts, our uniformed military staff, have been completely subjugated to civilian leadership with little or no military service or experience. This vacuum extends through top management of the Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council. Our appointed leadership is almost completely devoid of uniformed military service experience. (General Powell was the exception, but he clearly had little influence.)

Lack of experience should induce top leadership to seek out and cherish the advice of uniformed military personnel, but in the current administration this is not the case. Instead a top-down management philosophy prevails. Civilian leadership disregards contrary advice, fires or marginalizes people who disagree, and cherishes personal loyalty above all other traits.   The effect in the ranks is devastating and viral. Our military culture is becoming resistant to contrary advice, divergent opinions and new ideas. At every level information gets transformed to support leadership opinions and bad news is spun into good as it travels up the chain of command to support the egos at the top. In this corrosive environment, the culture of honor, integrity and courage we so carefully foster at our nation’s service academies slowly decays. Barack Obama offers a completely different management style. He believes good ideas start at the bottom and work their way to the top. This is not some pie-in-the-sky liberal philosophy. This is military leadership 101 taught to me by the Naval legend, now retired Vice Admiral “Al” Konetzni. This is the management strategy behind Barack Obama’s come-from-nowhere success against the top-down managed Clinton camp. Barack Obama’s campaign ideas come from the bottom-up, and leaders at every level are empowered to “take command.” As a result, ideas get field tested and improved hundreds of times on their way to the top. Today, every level of the Barack Obama campaign is staffed with take charge, intelligent and imaginative leaders who ”made it” based on merit. In fact, Barack Obama’s campaign staff resembles nothing more than a crack Army unit with Barack Obama in command. Isn’t this exactly what we want from our military and Commander-in-Chief? Barack Obama will listen to our military commanders. All evidence from his campaign proves it. My friends supporting Barack Obama have other reasons in line with their personal expertise and heartfelt concerns – healthcare, energy, the environment… At the core of our reasons, however, are the same basic Barack Obama tenets. US foreign policy should be based on diplomacy and we need to leave Iraq. Government should be of the people and for the people, not of the lobbyists and for large corporations. Good ideas and leadership come from the bottom and work their way to the top. These ideals transcend the labels of liberal or conservative and explain why I support Barack Obama.

Robert L. Ceres Jr.

Boalsburg, Pennsylvania

Short bio:

Robert graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1986. Robert served as a naval officer on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), USS Mississippi (CGN-40) during Operation Desert Storm, and USS Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7). Robert is a member of the Pennsylvania Veterans Steering Committee for Barack Obama.

I hope you will join Senator Obama's campaign and help strengthen our commitment to honoring our nations brave Veterans. If you would like to become involved in the campaign please contact Manuel Arevalo, Volunteer Deputy Director, PA Veterans for Obama: arevalo.veterans@gmail.com, Koby Langley at (724) 871-7417 or contact Steven Dunwoody, PA Veterans Outreach Coordinator at: SDunwoody@barackobama.com to find out how you can get involved.

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Why a Pennsylvania Two Tour Iraq Vet Supports Obama

By Veterans For Obama - Volunteer Outreach Director - Apr 8th, 2008 at 3:40 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

Why I Support Senator Obama

Presented by Michael Kotyk, 2 Tour Iraq War Veteran

Arcadia University 04/03/08 Good afternoon. My name is Michael Kotyk, and I'm a recently retired veteran of the

U.S. Navy. I've been invited to share with you my reasons for supporting Senator Barack Obama for President.

I support Senator Obama because I feel that our nation needs a serious change in direction. We have entered the fifth year of the Iraq War and still there is little effective management or strategy to guide it. The war has become, as Senator Obama stated in 2002, “ a dumb war ... a rash war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics”. This combination of passion and politics has cost our country the lives of over 4,000 Americans. It has created a struggling economy and has seriously strained relationships with our allies overseas. Because of our current policies, we are an isolated nation fighting a war, seemingly, on our own. I believe that if we really are to win the war on terrorism, we must change not only how we view the world, but also how we function in it. We need to have leadership from Washington that is based upon good, solid judgment; not on rash decisions or faulty intelligence. We need someone who can bridge the gap between enemy and friend.
In the service, we have a saying, “no man left behind”. But when you consider how poorly veterans have been treated, how our soldiers have been left to fight with what they have rather than what they need, I believe that the current administration has, without a doubt, left us behind. We deserve better than that. We need a leader in Washington who values us as human beings rather than some statistic on a daily report. Real leaders take care of their people. I believe that Senator Obama will do this as President.

The best leaders, according to Dwight D. Eisenhower, are the ones who can get someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. What has impressed me the most about Senator Obama, is his ability to bring people of diverse backgrounds together; uniting them to work actively towards a common cause.

This was demonstrated at the Convention Center in Philadelphia where Senator Obama delivered his famous speech on race relations in America. As we entered the auditorium, the words of Rev. Wright still echoed in our ears. We were a racially and culturally diverse audience. The crowd didn't seem to intermingle with each other much. However, after hearing Senator Obama speak, it was like he touched each one of us personally. I noticed how our attitudes toward one another began to change. By the end of the speech, we understood a little more about where the other person was coming from. Despite our fears, we recognized that we had much more in common than we did in difference. We discovered that we could work together. To be able to bring a room of such diversity together, speaks loudly about Senator Obama's ability to unite people of different backgrounds. Our choices are clear, Senator Obama's opponents wish to continue the same policies which have isolated us as a people and as a nation. We cannot continue the way we are going. We need change. Senator Obama, through his actions, has proven to me that he has the makings of a true leader.

This nation does not need someone who throws out sound bytes for the six o'clock news, but rather someone who actually practices what he preaches. This is why I am supporting Senator Obama for President.

I hope you will join Senator Obama's campaign and help strengthen our commitment to honoring our nations brave Veterans. If you would like to become involved in the campaign please contact Manuel Arevalo, Volunteer Deputy Director, PA Veterans for Obama: jm.arevalo@yahoo.com, Koby Langley at (724) 871-7417 or Steven Dunwoody, Veterans Outreach coordinator at: SDunwoody@barackobama.com.

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Remember our troops; Bring them home alive

By David Kimmel - Apr 8th, 2007 at 12:35 pm EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

As our legislators debate spending money in support of the war in Iraq, some of us just want to see the killing come to an end. I stumbled onto this video this morning and I can't get it out of my head.

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Please watch it all. Then forward it to whomever you think might benefit from it's viewing.

I'm a Viet Nam era veteran who was a war protester before the draft caught up with me. I wound up with a 23 year career in the Air Force/Air National Guard. I cannot take credit for the production but I can take credit for the feelings, it is me.

Respectfully submitted:

David Kimmel

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