My campaign thread: My Presidential campaign - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
A statement by Elendil’s Heir, a candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States.
Military and Veterans Affairs
The United States has the finest, strongest, best-trained, best-led military in the world, and I intend to keep it that way. Unfortunately, our ground forces are being stretched to the breaking point in Iraq and Afghanistan, with long and repeated tours of duty, stop-loss orders becoming increasingly common, and no end in sight. I would begin immediate planning for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, and carry it out as soon as practicable. The war has become unwinnable, due to egregious errors from the outset by the President and his inner circle, and no further purpose is served by keeping U.S. forces there. The country has become a training ground for Al Qaeda, our true enemy since 9-11, and is bleeding the U.S. Army and Marine Corps dry. We must also welcome far more Iraqis who have helped our forces and now seek naturalization and citizenship here.
I oppose the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law. It has been a failure, and has caused a grave injustice to patriotic gay Americans who want to serve their country. We are even now forcing valuable men and women out of the U.S. armed forces under the policy, and I am committed to reversing it.
I am strongly opposed to secret detentions, and even more so to torture. Torture coarsens those members of our military and intelligence service who practice it, and violates international treaties to which the U.S. is a party - and which are, as constitutionally defined, the “supreme law of the land.” It corrodes the rule of law and exposes us as hypocrites, badly undercutting the basis of our real struggle against international terrorism. I agree with Sen. John McCain, who has had some personal experience in the field, that torture is a moral and legal wrong which stains our nation’s honor. It also is of extremely limited use, if any, in acquiring actionable intelligence, as our friends the Israelis have come to realize. To be blunt, in fighting our enemies, we must take care not to become them. I propose a simple test: if we would be outraged to learn that captured U.S. military personnel were subjected to a particular form of treatment, we should not practice it on our own prisoners. Waterboarding is clearly torture - we prosecuted Japanese soldiers who used it during World War II, and we were right to do so. The United States must stop torturing, and we must stop today.
We owe our veterans a debt we can never repay. One of the grimly ironic consequences of vastly-improved battlefield medicine is that far more wounded American soldiers are surviving than ever have before. This means that we have a longterm and massive responsibility to tend to their physical as well as mental wounds. I would ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs is adequately funded, and that veterans and their families have diligent and committed advocates and ombudsmen within the VA hospital system.
Foreign Policy
My foreign policy will have a few simple goals. United States diplomacy should now strive to ensure our national security; strengthen our economic standing in the world; encourage human rights, democracy and market economies throughout the world; and restore the damage done by the arrogance and bungling of the Bush-Cheney Administration. I will bring idealistic but clear-eyed leadership to international affairs.
I want to strengthen our ties with our historic allies, particularly Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, France, Japan and Australia, and make common cause with them against the greatest threats facing humanity today: poverty, hunger, disease, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and global climate change.
Our grotesquely large trade deficit with China should give us some leverage in ongoing negotiations, and we should encourage Chinese dissident and pro-freedom groups to the greatest extent possible. I would raise the issues of human rights and intellectual-property rights with the Chinese leadership at every opportunity. But we shouldn’t kid ourselves: China is a very large country, fast becoming a giant in the world economy, with a quickly-modernizing and extremely large military. We cannot simply dictate terms to them, if indeed we ever could.
Russia seems to be drifting into oligarchy. Vladimir Putin’s succession as president by a hand-picked bureaucrat, his announced intention to serve as prime minister, and the vigorous suppression of opposition parties and an independent media leave little doubt that democracy is now endangered in Russia. I will do what I can to reverse the trend, and to persuade Russia’s leaders that it will have a brighter future as an integrated partner with Europe than as our adversary in a new Cold War.
The Castro regime in Cuba is oppressive and backward, but the U.S. trade embargo has shown little if any useful progress after almost half a century. I doubt I would take the initiative to reverse the embargo, particularly given the uncertainties over Fidel Castro’s health and what will happen after his death, but I would keep an open mind if Congress sent me such a bill. Our goal should of course be a democratic, open and free Cuba, and a friend at our doorstep. Anything likely to bring that about would have my support.
I support, as have past administrations, any effort that will lead to a free, democratic and independent Palestine and Israel living peacefully side by side. My administration would lend its good offices to that end. I recall, however, that President Bill Clinton worked long and hard on this issue, down to the level of detail of street-by-street border redrawing in Jerusalem, all to no avail. I have no illusions as to the prospect of success on this front, but we’ve got to try.
Thanks for the invite** Elendil**.