Joint Chiefs Chairman General Hugh Shelton for Hillary
Submitted by Nick Kelly on May 5, 2008 - 11:28pm.
Foreign Policy | Hillary Clinton | Iraq | veterans | Democratic politics
UPDATE: There's an excellent diary on this story at No Quarter.
I understand why these warriors respect her, they find in her a kindred spririt, a toughness, a tenacity and a willingness to fight against the odds for what is right. Barack likes to claim that he is, “skinny, but he’s tough,” but Hillary has fought alongside these Generals and Admirals on issues they deeply care about. She has earned their respect.
General Shelton was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001. He is a North Carolina native. In this video, he explains why we need to make Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton the next President of the United States.
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 advisers 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 American Legion bestowed upon her an honor as the unsung hero of the 108th Congress for helping forge the way in securing a record increase in funding for Veterans Health Care. Senator Carl levin, a friend, a great Senator, and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Senator Hillary Clinton has introduced more legislation to address the problems facing wounded service members than any other Senator. That's quite a compliment.
Here's the link to my April 25th diary concerning Hillary's visits to the areas of Ft. Bragg and Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.
Hugh Shelton gratuitously impugned General Clark's character in 2003 and never explained what he meant by the slur. In one presidential debate, General Clark said that if anyone out there knew what Shelton was talking about, would they please let him (Clark) know. Shelton instead just let the slur hang out there for the right wing to pounce upon.
General Scales at Fox News told Brit Hume that there wasn't a shred of truth to Shelton's accusation, and General McCafferty (sp?) pretty much said Shelton was full of it. Shelton and Secretary of Defense Cohen worked together to get Clark fired after Clark challenged the civilian leadership's mistaken ideas on the war in Koscovo.
He said rotten things about an honorable man and didn't have the cojones to apologize when it became abundantly clear that he had no excuse or reason whatsoever for saying what he said. If that's not a coward I don't know what is and I don't care who he endorses.
If he were a meaningful part of my life I would spend the mental energy required to forgive him, because a lack of forgiveness only hurts the person who still carries the grudge around with them everywhere they go. I don't give a fart about Hugh Shelton, so I just don't struggle with forgiving him. He belongs where the monkey put the nuts.
I will always have a hard time forgiving him for that slur he made against General Clark in 2003.