Post by RPankn on Dec 18, 2005 17:16:40 GMT -5
I was for the war before I voted against it.
Wounded vet: War 'a mistake'
December 18, 2005
BY LYNN SWEET SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Wounded Iraq war vet L. Tammy Duckworth, who launches her Democratic campaign for Congress today, said she would have not voted to authorize the war that cost her both of her legs and mangled her arm.
Though President Bush's decision was a "bad one," the Army helicopter pilot said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times she was "proud to serve."
Duckworth, 37, a political rookie, faces a three-way March Democratic primary battle for the 6th Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.). Her main rival is Christine Cegelis, who won the Democratic nomination in 2004 and campaigned against Hyde with grass-roots support built on her opposition to the Iraq war. Wheaton College teacher Lindy Scott is also running.
National TV interview
The Duckworth campaign, orchestrated by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chief of the House Democratic political operation -- who nationally has been recruiting Iraq vets for House races -- will be boosted by Illinois Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama [D-Manchuria].
"I'm just solidly in Tammy Duckworth's corner," Durbin said Friday as Obama, standing at his side, nodded in agreement.
Emanuel, Durbin and Obama are national Democratic Party leaders who are expected to use their considerable fund-raising ability to assist Duckworth.
Duckworth decided to do an interview today on national television -- ABC's "This Week" -- to jump-start fund-raising for her empty campaign war chest.
Asked whether she was being "used" by Democrats -- who want to make the 2006 midterm congressional contests a national referendum on Bush's Iraq war -- Duckworth said, "Nobody is going to draft me or make me say or do anything I don't want to do. I really have nothing to lose.
"So somebody takes a shot at me? Go ahead, you know. I've already been hit with a RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] and survived that."
In a phone interview Friday, Duckworth was asked about the Iraq war and other issues, including recovering from the horrific wounds she suffered when her Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq:
The Iraq war
"I think the war was a mistake," she said. "I don't think that I would have voted to go to war. I still went. I don't agree with the decision to go. But, you know, I thought it was my duty as a soldier to serve my country, and I actually volunteered to go. I was proud to serve. But, you know, I think that that decision was not a good, was a bad one."
She said she did not support a call by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq within six months. Cegelis backs the Murtha plan.
Duckworth said she would have voted for a resolution sponsored by Hyde and approved Friday by the House that the chamber is committed to "achieving victory in Iraq" but against "setting an artificial timetable" for withdrawal. Thirty-plus Democrats, including Emanuel, voted "present."
Barometer issues
Duckworth said she supports abortion rights. She backs bans on assault weapons. She's for some kind of "basic safety net" universal health coverage. She's against drilling for oil in Alaska.
Local issues
As does Cegelis, Duckworth supports O'Hare expansion and federal pension protection efforts for United and American airlines workers.
Residency
Duckworth lives in Hoffman Estates, about two miles from the district. House members have to only live in the state, not the district.
"I don't think the people of the district are going to vote for someone based on their address. They are going to vote on who can best represent them," Duckworth said.
Recovery
Duckworth was shot down in Iraq in November 2004. She walks with state-of-the-art computerized titanium legs with hydraulic knees. She is training in an aircraft flight simulator to be recertified as a helicopter pilot. She will remain in the military as a member of the Illinois National Guard.
Lynn Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times.
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-sweet18.html
Wounded vet: War 'a mistake'
December 18, 2005
BY LYNN SWEET SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Wounded Iraq war vet L. Tammy Duckworth, who launches her Democratic campaign for Congress today, said she would have not voted to authorize the war that cost her both of her legs and mangled her arm.
Though President Bush's decision was a "bad one," the Army helicopter pilot said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times she was "proud to serve."
Duckworth, 37, a political rookie, faces a three-way March Democratic primary battle for the 6th Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.). Her main rival is Christine Cegelis, who won the Democratic nomination in 2004 and campaigned against Hyde with grass-roots support built on her opposition to the Iraq war. Wheaton College teacher Lindy Scott is also running.
National TV interview
The Duckworth campaign, orchestrated by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chief of the House Democratic political operation -- who nationally has been recruiting Iraq vets for House races -- will be boosted by Illinois Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama [D-Manchuria].
"I'm just solidly in Tammy Duckworth's corner," Durbin said Friday as Obama, standing at his side, nodded in agreement.
Emanuel, Durbin and Obama are national Democratic Party leaders who are expected to use their considerable fund-raising ability to assist Duckworth.
Duckworth decided to do an interview today on national television -- ABC's "This Week" -- to jump-start fund-raising for her empty campaign war chest.
Asked whether she was being "used" by Democrats -- who want to make the 2006 midterm congressional contests a national referendum on Bush's Iraq war -- Duckworth said, "Nobody is going to draft me or make me say or do anything I don't want to do. I really have nothing to lose.
"So somebody takes a shot at me? Go ahead, you know. I've already been hit with a RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] and survived that."
In a phone interview Friday, Duckworth was asked about the Iraq war and other issues, including recovering from the horrific wounds she suffered when her Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq:
The Iraq war
"I think the war was a mistake," she said. "I don't think that I would have voted to go to war. I still went. I don't agree with the decision to go. But, you know, I thought it was my duty as a soldier to serve my country, and I actually volunteered to go. I was proud to serve. But, you know, I think that that decision was not a good, was a bad one."
She said she did not support a call by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq within six months. Cegelis backs the Murtha plan.
Duckworth said she would have voted for a resolution sponsored by Hyde and approved Friday by the House that the chamber is committed to "achieving victory in Iraq" but against "setting an artificial timetable" for withdrawal. Thirty-plus Democrats, including Emanuel, voted "present."
Barometer issues
Duckworth said she supports abortion rights. She backs bans on assault weapons. She's for some kind of "basic safety net" universal health coverage. She's against drilling for oil in Alaska.
Local issues
As does Cegelis, Duckworth supports O'Hare expansion and federal pension protection efforts for United and American airlines workers.
Residency
Duckworth lives in Hoffman Estates, about two miles from the district. House members have to only live in the state, not the district.
"I don't think the people of the district are going to vote for someone based on their address. They are going to vote on who can best represent them," Duckworth said.
Recovery
Duckworth was shot down in Iraq in November 2004. She walks with state-of-the-art computerized titanium legs with hydraulic knees. She is training in an aircraft flight simulator to be recertified as a helicopter pilot. She will remain in the military as a member of the Illinois National Guard.
Lynn Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times.
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-sweet18.html
