Foreign Policy Issues

Rejoin the Family of Nations
Re-establish our traditional alliances; assume our traditional position within NATO; place our nation once again in its traditional seat of honor among the nations of the world, assuring the world that this Republican Administration was simply a lone erratic aberration in recent US history.

Deny Funds for Agressive War
Deny funds for any foreign adventure in which our nation is not truly threatened, as determined by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

Ban Secret Courts
Support legislation prohibiting secret courts

Monitor War-related Spending
Impose Congressional oversight over all war-related Administration expenditures. (Congress denied itself that authority.)

Prohibit War Profiteering
Prohibit war profiteering by private contractors. (Congress refused to adopt anti-profiteering language in its generous $87 billion appropriation.)

Investigate WMD Intelligence
Subpoena and analysis of all documentation relevant to assess the state of our intelligence with regard to the situation in Iraq prior to our invasion.

Investigate Pre-9/11 Intelligence
Subpoena and analysis of all documentation relevant to the status of our national security intelligence relating to the events of, and preceding, September 11, 2001.

Disarm Palestinian Terrorists
Demand that the US, the European Union, the UN and Russia, the co-drafters of the Israeli-Palestinian ‘Road Map to Peace’, enforce the provision in the plan’s first step requiring the Palestinians to disarm and disband the Palestinian terrorist groups, as they had agreed.

Investigate US Support of Taliban
Investigate the reason the Bush Administration gave the Taliban $43 million in the spring of 2001.

Repair Roads and Bridges
Support legislation for repairing our crumbling infrastructure and create jobs for the nation’s workers.

Enforce Fiscal Responsibility
Support legislation requiring fiscal responsibility on the part of the Administration, including pay down of the mushrooming national debt.

Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Support legislation prohibiting the privatization of Social Security and Medicare.

Legislate for Clean Air and Water
Support legislation reinstating strong clean air and clean water provisions, and hold polluters responsible for clean up, not at public expense.

Repeal the Bush Tax Cuts
Fund the above programs by supporting repeal of the massive tax cuts enacted over the past three years, while enacting new tax cuts for the middle income, the population that can stir the economy. The nation enjoyed its period of longest economic growth in history under the pre-Bush tax structure.

Ban Arbitrary Imprisonment
Support legislation eliminating the authority of any Administration to imprison a person for an indefinite period without filing charges, denying legal assistance, and denying availability of a court hearing.

A Real Prescription Drug Program
Enact a true prescription drug program for Medicare subscribers, to be administered only by Medicare, which has only a 2% administrative overhead, and authorize Medicare to negotiate lowest drug prices.

Expand Health Coverage
Explore the expansion of Medicare to incorporate health coverage for all Americans while reducing their overall medical expenses.

Preserve Medicaid
Support realistic funding levels for Medicaid, an issue of life or death for our most needy citizens.

Improve Veteran's Health Care
Increase the budget for veteran’s health care so that our veterans can receive treatment in a convenient location and in a timely manner, and not have to wait six months just for a medical appointment.

Disability Pay for Veterans
Approve legislation that would provide true disability pay for disabled veteran retirees.

Leave No Child Behind
Support legislation fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act.

Provide More First Responders
Support legislation to increase the number of First Responders to a disaster.

So much more remains to be done. Simon will gladly elaborate on any issue.

The Tragedy of the Bush Foreign Policy

The Bush Administration foreign policy, supported by the Republican Congress, has been based on deceit, arrogance, ignorance and ultimately stupidity. It is now clear that the Pentagon had prepared plans for the invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq well before the destruction of the Twin Towers. That catastrophe gave the Administration a basis for invading Afghanistan and a pretext for invading Iraq. What may not be generally known is that, once a base is established in Iraq, the plan calls next for the invasion of Iran and Syria.

There was absolutely no sane reason to attack Iraq, which was a threat to no one; not even its neighbors felt threatened. With nothing more to defend itself than AK-47 rifles, grenades and 1950’s version Russian tanks, unable to get a single airplane off the ground, Iraq was totally defenseless against American military technology. Our legitimate intelligence sources were completely correct in their assessment that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, no weapons programs in progress, and that Iraq and the Al Qaeda terrorists were mortal enemies. Forging ahead with the invasion against the better judgment of our allies, NATO and the UN, the Republicans have so far committed $166 billion of our tax dollars. They’ve cost us, as of this writing, more than 400 precious young lives and over 9000 very serious injuries, typically loss of limbs, which will forever change the life of the victim. And we are still counting, every day! The mantra that our troops are fighting for our freedom is a fraud, as is the latest rationale for the war in Iraq, that it was to overthrow Saddam and establish democracy.

THE KEY ISSUES

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