Al Weed - A Democrat for Virginia

As a veteran of World War II, I am fed up with the present Administration in Washington. We desperately need a change of leadership to run our leaky Ship of State.

Duty, sacrifice, service, patriotism: these are words understood by all good Americans. For those of us who have served in uniform, and in combat, these words are precious. To be clear, I love my country and I was proud to have answered the call in 1941.

On June 6, 1944, I was part of the 116th Infantry Regiment that landed in the assault wave on "Bloody" Omaha Beach in Normandy. The world banded together against the tyranny of Adolf Hitler in a global war on terror we could not afford to lose.

I stood with hundreds of men who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I stood with men who suffered only as one can in an unholy theater of war. With righteousness on our side we prevailed, and ended the reign of Nazi terror.

We stand today at our National D-Day Memorial, for which many of my cohorts and I worked so hard. In this place we recognize the struggle and triumph of that war; a war which we thought would end all wars. But our current leaders have failed us. They have not adequately worked to find better ways to settle political disputes. They have not worked to move beyond violence to innocent civilians.

They choose not to settle political differences through humane reasoning and negotiation. Instead they rely on bully tactics of the past - brawny muscle, might and fear.

I have heard Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. Cheney, and Mr. Bush try to create support for their dreadful mistakes in Iraq.

These men have not served. They sit safely in the White House and decide to send Al Weed's, Jim Webb's and your neighbor's sons and daughters halfway around the world to die or be maimed. And for what good reason?

There are no weapons of mass destruction. There was no connection to Al Qaeda. There is no good reason to justify this bloody and costly war.

Now they want the authority to torture prisoners. Thankfully war veterans like John McCain, John Warner, and Colin Powell stand up for the principles they defended in combat.

Those in power will say my opposition to the war aids the terrorists. How dare they question my patriotism? I have fought under our flag. I have been twice wounded in battle. I have stood up in defense of the principles of freedom. Today I proudly, and with great patriotism, exercise that freedom and stand against this failed war.

This is an important time in our history. The threat of a Cold War has passed. But we are not at peace. We have enemies. They are smart and they are capable - and they are cowards.

Osama bin Laden remains at large in his mountain cave, grinning at what he has done to our American ideals. Every day we fight in the theatre we created in Iraq is a day he wins. After September 11, 2001, Mr. Bush said we are in a new kind of war. Why then is he fighting in the same old way?

With men like George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld in power we can likely lose this long and costly war. We need for Washington to make a ninety-degree turn. We must elect Al Weed and Jim Webb to congress. With leadership from people like them who have experienced war, we can eliminate the terrorist’s threat, not embolden it.