Today, Brian Schatz placed advertising and sent fundraising emails claiming that Colleen Hanabusa is mounting “deliberately false attacks” against his record on Iraq. Please consider the FACTS: Fact: Colleen Hanabusa has always held a firm and principled stand on Iraq. She was an immediate critic of sending combat troops back to Iraq, she introduced legislation to address her concerns about the President’s authority to escalate military intervention without Congressional oversight, and HAD IT PASSED unanimously by both Democrats and Republicans, ALL BEFORE Brian Schatz made a single public comment on the recent situation in Iraq (the comments and dates quoted in Brians ad prove this point.) Fact: The first comment by Schatz, issued AFTER Hanabusa’s measure passed, was a statement from his office that offered no serious policy position: The current situation in Iraq is a result of our invasion, not our withdrawal. U.S. military engagement is not the answer in Iraq. The future of Iraq is now up to the Iraqis.” Such platitudes did not and do not address the President’s recent actions, nor state Schatz’s forward-looking view on similar future actions. Fact: In the weeks that followed, Schatz made no serious comment on the Iraq situation, except to answer questions at a Kauai candidate forum where he supported the White Houses plan. Meanwhile, Colleen published an article in the Huffington Post detailing her view on the crisis, and the steps the U.S. should be taking: hanabusaforhawaii/news/huffington-post-america-must-examine-merits-involvement-iraq/ Fact: After nearly a month of little comment on Iraq, Schatz announced in the final televised debate that his position was in fact the same as Colleens...sort of... There is no difference between the two of us on this issue except that you sort of seem to be really focused on criticizing the President’s foreign policy, and it’s not just Iraq. It’s Syria, it’s Libya, it’s Iran, it’s Iraq; you find a way to never agree with the president on foreign policy. But he also inferred that the troops sent were only there to protect our embassy, which is NOT true. At least 300 troops are there to advise and train one side in the growing sectarian conflict, a side we dont know but could be affiliated with Iran or tied to some of the heaviest attacks on coalition troops from 2004 - 2008. Hanabusa pointed this out in the debate, though Brian never addressed it, while still insisting their views are identical. Fact: This isn’t just the Hanabusa campaigns view, it was clearly noticed by the Honolulu Star Advertiser, who addressed not one, but two columns to this very topic in the past several weeks: hanabusaforhawaii/news/star-advertiser-schatz-waffles-iraq/ hanabusaforhawaii/news/star-advertiser-iraq-hanabusa-says-schatz-says-little/ Fact: This is not the first time Schatz has dodged, waffled or flip-flopped on U.S. policy in the Middle East. In August 2013, Civil Beat noted his about face on the White Houses plan to attack Syria when they authored a story titled, Schatz talks tough on Syria, downgrades to request for debate. civilbeat/2013/09/19812-schatz-talks-tough-on-syria-downgrades-to-request-for-debate/ To date, Brian Schatz has backed the Presidents foreign policy 100% of the time. He has been very late and very confusing in stating clear policy on when and how the U.S. should go to war. His positions are NOT the same as Colleens. Now, he is trying to obfuscate those facts by playing the role of victim of an attack ad…ironic given his Chief of Staff Andy Winers role as one of the chief architects of the most expensive smear campaign ever executed in Hawaii political history. Todays actions by Schatz and Winer served to deflect attention away from Brians lack of depth in the foreign policy arena and his blind loyalty to failed White House policies on Syria and Iraq. In both cases Brian has delayed, waffled, then followed the crowd. By contrast, on Syria and Iraq, Colleen immediately and firmly opposed risking American lives through any military action. Schatz and Winers use of negative messaging and fundraising tactics is an insult to Hawaii voters and far from Brians self-proclaimed Happy Warrior ethos. We urge voters to take a hard look at Schatz’s record on foreign affairs – or lack therein – and reject Schatz and Winers plans to disregard the respectful political discourse that Hawaii people expect and deserve.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:22:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015