Post by William Reynolds on Dec 28, 2005 21:35:20 GMT -5
CHICAGO, Illinois - The Illinois Democratic Party, in conjuncation with Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion sponsored a fundraiser with the full cooperation of Representative William Reynolds, a retired Major General in the United States Army.
Excerpts from Mr. Reynold's speech follow:
"Some of you know me, and some lucky few in the audience might have known my brother, Colonel Paul Reynolds. I come to speak before you today on his behalf as much as my own and of the Democratic Party.
As many of you are gradually becoming aware, the Republican Party has ceased to be the party of the military man. I know this from experience serving our great country abroad, and from talking with many of you. As veterans, we have all made, at one or more points in our lives, oaths to serve our country. We agreed to go to war without reserving the right for ourselves to decide which war we wanted to go to. No man or woman here should be ashamed of serving their country. I am not ashamed that I served in Iraq, and I'm damn sure not ashamed of the fact that I served time over in Afghanistan.
What I ashamed of is the abuse of my oath of service by the Republican Party. I am ashamed that the Republicans took it upon themselves to make up a false premise to go to war, when all they needed to tell us was that a genocidal dictator in Iraq needed to be stopped. And I am ashamed that the government of this country has allowed the Republican Party to slash Veterans benefits and attack our returning troops in the name of protecting the wealth of the rich.
Elections are approaching again, as I'm sure you are all aware, and the time has come for America's warriors to make themselves heard. Everyone here knows that a soldier never rushes into war. The United States Army, Navy, Airforce, and Marines told President Bush back in 2001 that invading Iraq for WMDs that weren't there was a bad idea. And they are telling President Warder that invading Syria and Iran today is a bad idea. But the civilian Republican administrations of the past decade don't know the meaning of the use of force. They just see their political objectives before them and have abused the finest armed forces in the world time and time again. I'm asking you to make yourselves heard. This is not time for a pampered Ivy leaguer to lead our country into another war we have no need to fight. And this is not the time to be attacking our nation's veterans.
The Democratic Party stands for sensible leadership that listens to our military leaders and takes their advice. Democrats stand for weapons and strategies that work, not pretending that our soldiers don't need their tanks and artillery. My party stands for increasing veterans' benefits as well as improving soldier support services. And the Democratic Party stands for defense spending that goes to benefit America's soldiers, not to line the pockets of businessmen who've never been within a thousand miles of real combat."
Excerpts from Mr. Reynold's speech follow:
"Some of you know me, and some lucky few in the audience might have known my brother, Colonel Paul Reynolds. I come to speak before you today on his behalf as much as my own and of the Democratic Party.
As many of you are gradually becoming aware, the Republican Party has ceased to be the party of the military man. I know this from experience serving our great country abroad, and from talking with many of you. As veterans, we have all made, at one or more points in our lives, oaths to serve our country. We agreed to go to war without reserving the right for ourselves to decide which war we wanted to go to. No man or woman here should be ashamed of serving their country. I am not ashamed that I served in Iraq, and I'm damn sure not ashamed of the fact that I served time over in Afghanistan.
What I ashamed of is the abuse of my oath of service by the Republican Party. I am ashamed that the Republicans took it upon themselves to make up a false premise to go to war, when all they needed to tell us was that a genocidal dictator in Iraq needed to be stopped. And I am ashamed that the government of this country has allowed the Republican Party to slash Veterans benefits and attack our returning troops in the name of protecting the wealth of the rich.
Elections are approaching again, as I'm sure you are all aware, and the time has come for America's warriors to make themselves heard. Everyone here knows that a soldier never rushes into war. The United States Army, Navy, Airforce, and Marines told President Bush back in 2001 that invading Iraq for WMDs that weren't there was a bad idea. And they are telling President Warder that invading Syria and Iran today is a bad idea. But the civilian Republican administrations of the past decade don't know the meaning of the use of force. They just see their political objectives before them and have abused the finest armed forces in the world time and time again. I'm asking you to make yourselves heard. This is not time for a pampered Ivy leaguer to lead our country into another war we have no need to fight. And this is not the time to be attacking our nation's veterans.
The Democratic Party stands for sensible leadership that listens to our military leaders and takes their advice. Democrats stand for weapons and strategies that work, not pretending that our soldiers don't need their tanks and artillery. My party stands for increasing veterans' benefits as well as improving soldier support services. And the Democratic Party stands for defense spending that goes to benefit America's soldiers, not to line the pockets of businessmen who've never been within a thousand miles of real combat."