"On the war in Iraq, Fossella remains loyal to the Bush administration..."
NY1, October 25, 2006 [
link]
Rep. Fossella's campaign website, for his 2006 re-election included three references to Iraq;
- Mail subsidies for families of soldiers to send packages to Iraq and Afghanistan
- An op-ed piece written by Rep. Fossella attacking Lebanon for potentially harboring terrorists [link]
- A piece of legislation he authored which would "keep federal and local officials from sending mixed signals during terror emergencies" [link]
Not all that surprising is that none of these actually dealt with the war itself and all but the first point only mention the word 'Iraq' in passing. None of
them are actually plans to support our troops either. Rep. Fossella decided early on that the War in Iraq was not a policy issue worthy of discussion during
a Congressional election.
Think Progress has contacted members of both the House and Senate to list who supports and who opposes the troop surge Bush recently
proposed, which would call for an additional 21,500 troops to be sent to Iraq. Rep. Fossella is on record as "refusing to answer." 421 members have stated their opinion on record. Rep. Fossella appears
to have none. [
link]
"On the war in Iraq, Fossella remains loyal to the Bush administration, arguing it's not time to remove the troops from Iraq."
NY1, October 25, 2006 [
link]
"The President has a responsibility to articulate America's long-term strategy before placing even one soldier in harm's way. He has
asked the Congress and the American people to follow his lead, but he has shrouded in darkness where that road will take us. Leading
military and foreign policy experts have questioned why the Administration won't define the mission and what plans are in place for us
to withdraw."
"The President must have a frank discussion with the American people as to what our military's mission is, when victory will be
achieved and how it will be achieved."
-Rep. Vito Fossella, April 30, 1999 [
link]
This is in response to President Clinton and the then NATO led war against Kosovo. Rep. Fossella released this speech only 39 days after the start on the
conflict. The war lasted 80 days. There were no US casualties. Clearly a much larger catostrophic event in Rep. Fossella's
opinion than the current "quagmire" in Iraq.