US Election 2004

This year at Back to School Night, the parents were greeted by political campaigners.  In one instance, I received a door hanger advocating the election of Democrat James Socas for Congress.  Noticeably missing from the six point agenda on the ad was any mention of the War against Terrorism.

Is this congressional challenger aware that we are at war?  Given the blank out on this ad, I checked his website.  Ironically, the only reference to terrorism on his front page “SOCAS CALLS FOR REFOCUS ON WAR ON TERROR ON EVE OF 9/11” has a busted link, which I have asked them to fix. 

But what does Socas mean by refocus?  I found the following elsewhere on the campaign site: 

On the evening before the third anniversary of September 11th, James Socas called for the United States to re-commit its full military resources to combating the terrorist network, Al Qaeda, and to end the military conflict in Iraq. Socas' comments came the same week that the number of U.S. casualties in Iraq surpassed 1,000. Here is part of James' statement:
"The American people were told that war in Iraq was necessary for two reasons: first, Iraq posed an ‘imminent’ threat to our nation through weapons of mass destruction poised to strike our lands; and, second, that Iraq was directly linked to the terrorist threat from Al Qaeda.

"Neither of those statements has turned out to be true. There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There has been no credible link established between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. Unfortunately, as we have now learned, much of the intelligence on which our decision to invade Iraq was based was deeply flawed.

"Our soldiers have shown they will bear any burden and pay any price to defend our country and this week marked more than 1,000 Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq. Those figures do not include the seven-thousand soldiers who have suffered life-changing injuries. We cannot justify more casualties in a conflict that no longer protects our vital national interests. A military withdrawal will allow us to re-focus our soldiers and resources on the real fight against Al Qaeda.” [James Socas for Congress, “Socas Calls for Re-focus on War on Terrror”, Socas Campaign News]   

In summary, Socas has a two point plan: (1) focus only on al-Qaeda, and (2) withdraw from Iraq.  In addition, he ignores the link between terrorism and state sponsors.

Given the omission on the door hanger and the single reference on the main page, where does the war rank in Socas’ priorities.  It does not; his website’s statement of his priorities does not mention the War Against Terrorism. 

Hydra (9/30/2001)

Image Source: Cox and Forkum

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