Alan Grayson is running for U.S. Congress in district 8 of Central Florida. Below is info about Alan from his web page. He is very vocal about the facts of the Iraq war. I found him to be very interesting and it's encouraging to see someone with passion and professionalism work so hard. Good luck Alan.
A lot of people talk about the War in Iraq; Alan has actually done something about it.
Alan Grayson has spent the last four years of his life combating some of the worst abuses of the war. He has filed dozens of citizen lawsuits against crooked contractors who have cheated American troops and taxpayers. He is the prosecuting attorney in all five fraud cases currently pending against contractors in Iraq. He won a $10 million jury verdict last year, the second largest False Claims Act verdict in history in a case that the Justice Department refused to prosecute. In addition, Alan has testified before Congress four times regarding fraud in Iraq.
Tom Foreman of CNN has called Alan "a leading critic of the war in Iraq."
The Wall Street Journal said Alan is "fighting a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq."
The national organization Taxpayers Against Fraud named him Lawyer of the Year in 2006 for his work against war profiteers. Alan has been interviewed on 60 Minutes, the CBS Evening News and NPR, and profiled in Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and the Wall St. Journal.
Alan favors ending the War in Iraq as quickly as possible, meaning by the fastest means that do not actually increase the danger to U.S. forces as they are leaving, because:
The War in Iraq has not made us safer. On the contrary, it has made us less safe. It has given terrorists four years of on-the-job training on how to attack U.S. forces. It has inflamed anti-Americanism not only among Muslims, but in the rest of the world as well. It has put 160,000 of our troops in fixed positions within missile range from Iran.
The Iraqis want us to leave. Polls in Iraq consistently show that 80% of all Iraqis (basically, everyone but the Kurds) want U.S. forces out of Iraq. Over 60% of Iraqis support armed attacks on U.S. forces. Even the Iraqi government, which is propped up by U.S. armed forces, has refused to extend its "authorization" for the occupation beyond this year.
There never was any reason to occupy Iraq in the first place. All of the Bush Administration's rationales - Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" threatening the United States, collaboration between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, etc. - were mistakes or lies. And the people who told those lies have never been punished, they remain in power, and they are still lying. If U.S. forces had not spent five years bogged down in Iraq, they might have captured Osama Bin Laden. One man's foolishness put us in Iraq, and the same man's stubbornness keeps us there.
The war has been horribly mismanaged. The Bush Administration's promise that Iraqis would welcome U.S. forces has been revealed as a gross miscalculation. In the first year of the war, the Administration spent $50 billion to occupy Iraq. Last year, the Administration spent over $100 billion simply to sustain the occupation. For this coming year, the Administration has asked for $200 billion. That's over $20 million an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Bush Administration is spending more on favored contractors like Blackwater and KBR than it spends on U.S. troops. All told, including the cost of future care of Iraq veterans, the cost of the War in Iraq is over $2 trillion. That's almost $7,000 for every man, woman and child in America.
The consequences of leaving aren't nearly as bad as the consequences of staying. The same people who were wrong about Iraq in the first place are the ones who say that all sorts of terrible things will happen if U.S. forces leave. When we leave, however, two things are certain - no more of our troops will die, and no more of our money will be wasted. The U.S. Army was never meant to serve as the Baghdad Police Department.
We have to think about ourselves. We had one American city drown because the Bush Administration cut the New Orleans Army Corps of Engineers budget by 42%, months before Hurricane Katrina hit. We have bridges falling and dams deteriorating. For half of what the Bush Administration is asking for the War in Iraq, we could provide health coverage to every American who doesn't have it.
"My Democratic opponent talks about doing something about the War in Iraq and about holding our government accountable. But, I've actually done something about it. I've taken on the biggest corrupt defense contractors and won victories for our troops and for you, the taxpayers," says Alan.
We need a leader who will look out for our best interests. On August 26, send a clear message that you want to end the war and bring our troops home safely. Vote for Alan Grayson for Congress, a true progressive Democrat.
Elect Alan Grayson to Congress. Imagine the possibilities - and help make them happen!
I ran across this excerpt of Lee Iacocca's latest book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone, over at Louisville/Jefferson County Democrat Party Newsletter. Iacocca understands leadership, professionalism, and success. Iacocca's outrage and dismay towards George Bush and Dick Cheney is in reality what Kentuckians should feel towards our very own U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his lockstep loyalty to the Bush administration.
Lee Iacocca says:
Bravenet Blog 
Blog Community
Get a Free Blog
Manage your Blog
bravenet.com