Free Republic

Thank you all for the prayers. It’s an honor and I’ll try to check in w/ FR from wherever I’m deployed to.

Semper Fidelis

Trust me Supersonic, I can run. I’ve checked it with the DOD and the Marine Corps Office of Legislative Affairs. Remember, for every rule there are exceptions and people have done it before, I won’t be setting any precedents.

I love how everyone gets caught up in the rhetoric. Hunter has built the only border fence in American, and in doing so he's tougher on illegal immigration than any hate spewing "conservative". You can talk all you want, but once again Hunter stays above the fray and gets the job done. Oh, and that 850 mile fence he passed in the Secure Fence Act, I guess that also means he's spineless. You'd much rather have him talk really mean and be discriminatory and get absolutely nothing done on the border issues.

The point of the entire article assumes that you have common sense. No they were not convicted of murder, but they received sentences longer than the average convicted murderer (8 1/2 years). Hunter took the extreme view, for the sake of argument, that C&R are guilty of everything thrown at them then said, "OK, fine, but 10 and 11 year sentences are crazy". That was the point of the article, a reprimand might be ok, but a sentence longer than pedophiles and murderers get is ridiculous.

The problem from the posts I'm seeing are that Hunter doesn't get the detailed testimony and legality of blah blah blah. He understands all of that, but he's trying to get them freed from jail. You keep talking of the differences in testimony and get upset at the fact that "he admits their guilt" in his argument. You keep talking and he'll go on trying to free them.

HUNTER STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT'S IRAQ STRATEGY ANNOUNCEMENT



* * * "Oppose Any Democratic Efforts to Cut Off the 20,000 Reinforcements" * * *



Washington D.C. - Today, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), senior Republican on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement regardnig the President's announcement of a new Iraq strategy:

"American troops in Baghdad, alongside Iraqi forces, have been engaged in a fierce battle with insurgents over the past several days.

"The United States, with the support of Iraqi leaders, has developed a plan to stabilize Baghdad and the al-Anbar Province. The President has told Congress that he intends to move an additional 6 brigades to Iraq for this operation.

"My own recommendation to President Bush has been to move the 27 Iraqi battalions presently in quiet areas of the country into Baghdad. Further, I have recommended that U.S. troops move to 'leverage' their positions, emphasizing advisory teams, intelligence, precision strikes and special operations; and that Iraqi forces take the lead in the proposed Baghdad sweeps.

"The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, has told me that part of my recommendation is being implemented in that nine Iraqi battalions from peaceful areas are being moved to Baghdad for this operation. Against this backdrop, the Democrats have announced that they will resist any reinforcements being sent into the battle zone. I will strongly oppose any such Democratic effort to cut off troop reinforcements or re-supply efforts into the Iraq theater.

"We are a nation at war. To fracture the U.S. government at this critical time will demoralize our troops and allies, and embolden our enemies. I support the Commander-in-Chief in this operation.

"I will continue to push for the acceleration of the military transition to Iraqis. This can be accomplished by rotating every Iraqi battalion through a combat tour.

"The operation will start with a U.S. battalion stationed with each operational Iraqi brigade in Baghdad. I will recommend to the President, Secretary Gates and General Petraeus that these U.S. embedded battalions be replaced with Iraqi battalions over the coming months, until Baghdad is exclusively occupied by Iraqi forces."

Yesterday, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) stated, "we cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq, we must act to prevent it." Hunter followed by stating his strong opposition to any efforts to cut off troop reinforcements to the Iraqi theater of operation.



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Hunters semi-presidential website (his Peace Through Strength PAC site) is www.peacethroughstrengthpac.com. It's got most of Hunter's issues.