I write as the mother of a son in the Army who’s already served a year in Afghanistan.
Dan Senor has become one of Mitt Romney’s “lead” advisors on the Middle East. Senor was the “senior” (31 years old) advisor to Paul Bremer who headed Bush’s failed occupation government. Senor has just issued a policy paper saying we should establish a “safe zone” protected by a “no fly zone” in Syria. Does anyone remember that we did the same in Iraq?
Mitt Romney has also added Gen. Tommy Franks to his advisory council. Franks planned the invasion and failed post-invasion of Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld is praising Romney’s defense team; that should be enough to scare anyone away from voting for Romney. We’ve withdrawn from Iraq and will be doing the same in Afghanistan; do we really want to go into yet another country in the Middle East?
Do Romney and his advisors understand the impact, both in terms of money and on the lives of military members and their families? How will it be paid for? More borrowing from China to add to the deficit?
Who will benefit financially? Firms like Dick Cheney’s Halliburton again? Senor’s group says that the “Syrian military is not as powerful as many presumed.” Isn’t that always what they say? They always want us to believe that it will be over quickly, and will be an easy victory.
Chris Vallone
Epping
