Opinion
After five years, an opportunity for an honorable conclusion
Five years ago this week, President Bush landed aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq. He spoke that day beneath a banner that read “Mission Accomplished,” but many of us knew at the time that the mission was far from accomplished.
Five years later, despite the brave efforts of our men and women in uniform, the mission is still far from complete. We need a president who will end this war honorably. An opinion piece deserves a frank opinion, and I want to explain why I believe Sen. Clinton is the best person for the huge challenge we still face in Iraq.
Having spent 38 years in uniform, I have deep and abiding concern for our national security and our men and women who served. Sen. Clinton has gotten to know our military during her time as first lady and as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Unlike any other candidate, she knows that maintaining a highly-trained military and alert military goes beyond throwing dollars at the Pentagon or giving upbeat speeches. She understands the impact of endless commitments on the service families who also serve our country.
She has already worked hard to build the morale, training and ultimately the capabilities of our armed forces, and she uniquely understands the importance of remembering those on our forgotten front line in Afghanistan.
We need a president like Sen. Clinton, who understands that a successful foreign policy combines equal parts of economic strength, military readiness and diplomatic persuasion. We need a president who will work with allies and partners to bear the burdens we know are coming and to prepare for any other contingencies. In short, we need a president who will return America to its rightful place as the leader of all nations. Freedom is too important – and our men in women in uniform too precious – to ask them to bear the entire burden of its success in the world.
There are many benchmarks we can use to measure our progress in Iraq, but the simple truth is that progress has been too slow. Five years later, the situation has improved by only a modest margin. Political progress by the Iraqi government is uncertain. Sectarian and intra-sectarian fighting continues and there has been a spike in violence in recent weeks, despite the heroic efforts of our matchless young men and women in uniform.
We need a president who will bring this war to an honorable conclusion, and bring our troops home responsibly. And we need that president to be ready on day one. I believe that Hillary Clinton will be that president. Throughout these five years, she has been fighting in the Senate to improve the way we fight this war, and to get our troops the supplies they need. As a candidate, she has pledged to convene the Joint Chiefs of Staff, her Secretary of Defense and her security advisors to draw up a responsible plan to begin bringing the troops home. Importantly, she knows that we will need to rebuild our military, reduce the strain on our troops, and take care of our forgotten veterans. For years, she has been a champion for veterans, fighting to get all members of the National Guard and Reserve access to TRICARE and helping provide for service members with Traumatic Brain Injury. If elected, she has promised to enact a new GI Bill of Rights for the 21st Century to provide our service members and veterans with expanded education, housing and entrepreneurial benefits.
The next administration will also need to do everything within its power to work with the Iraqis and the international community to stabilize Iraq. The United Nations will need to play a greater role in reaching accommodation between the political parties in Iraq. A regional stabilization conference should be called that invites key allies, global powers and the states bordering Iraq. Far more attention should be paid to the more than 4 million refugees and internally displaced persons who have lost their homes during this war. And the expensive reconstruction of Iraq will have to be paid for out of Iraqi oil funds instead of the savings accounts of American taxpayers.
After five years, we now have the opportunity to bring this war to an honorable end, with Sen. Clinton as our next commander-in-chief.
Gen. (ret.) Hugh Shelton was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001. He is an Edgecombe County native.
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Come meet Ashley Woolard Saturday
The First Congressional District is ready for a change. A change in leadership, a change in priorities, and a change in attitudes.
The last Republican to represent the First District was Walter Pool in 1883. Our stagnant advancement under the direction of the Democrats is evident that a change is needed. We need jobs and we need businesses to provide those jobs.
G. K. Butterfield is our representative in Washington. It is his duty to represent all members of his district. The people who are struggling to take care of their families, support their churches, and expect the government to represent them are ignored. How has Butterfield benefited his constituents?
He voted to destroy the best health care system in the world, and voted for a bill that he had never read that will cost the taxpayers trillions of dollars. He voted to use taxpayer money to perform abortions in the healthcare bill.
He voted for Cap and Trade that will destroy millions of jobs at a time we need them most. This bill will drive more businesses out of the country. He was appointed to the Helsinki Committee to adopt the U. N. Global standards of environmental policies.
He voted for finance reform that will further restrict businesses and make it more difficult to maintain job growth.
Butterfield is loyal to Nancy Pelosi, and she has appointed him to several important committees. One of which is the House Committee of Standards of Official Conduct. t is their job to censor fellow members for misconduct, but when Charles Rangel was examined by the committee for lying about his taxes he gave Butterfield a thousand-dollar donation and the charges went away.
Ashley Woolard is challenging Butterfield for the right to represent the First District. Mr. Woolard is optimistic that he can defeat Butterfield in November. However, he is realistic and realizes that he needs help. He needs volunteers to get his message to every eligible voter, because every vote is important, but above all he needs money. It will take a lot of money to put a Republican in Washington for the first time in 127 years.
I am sure everyone knows who Butterfield is, but how many of you know Ashley Woolard? If you haven’t met this young man, we invite you to join an Ashley Woolard for Congress meet and greet on Saturday, July 31, from 4 until 7 p.m. at the Macclesfield Community Center, N.C. 124 and Fourth Street. This will also be a chance to donate to the campaign and purchase barbequed chicken plates for dinner.
Don Harrell
Macclesfield -
She doesn’t like traps for cats
I live in Tarboro and some of my neighbors have put out traps for cats. These cats have been here since I have lived here.
We have all kinds of animals here running here and they look good here.
I am unhappy about the way people do things.
What can we do about this?
DEBBIE OWENS
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