Iraq war veterans fight for US Congress seats
Iraq war veterans are set to make their mark on the campaign for US congressional elections this year that could see President George W. Bush's Republican Party lose control.
About a dozen candidates who have fought in Iraq are running in the November midterm election, including Asian-American helicopter pilot Ladda "Tammy" Duckworth, who lost both legs when she was shot down in 2004.
Nearly all of those who have been in Iraq are political neophytes. And despite a US military that has a pronounced Republican leaning, most of the contenders are Democrats.
The "Band of Brothers" group, which assists Democratic veterans running for elective office, said there were 56 veterans of all conflicts running for a seat in the US legislature.
"All over America, veterans are running for Congress as Democrats," the group boasted on its website. "They've been there, they know the story, and it's time to let them speak."
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has identified 39 candidates with military experience.
Democrats hope they can regain control of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the election because of public anger over Iraq and scandals that have hit the Republican Party.
Some observers see the entry of Democratic veterans into the campaign as a rebuke to the Bush admininstration's handling of the war, and an open challenge on security matters traditionally seen as an area of Republican dominance.
"The grassroots movement by veterans across the country who have decided to run for Congress as Democrats further highlights the dissatisfaction of the American public with the handling of the war in Iraq," said Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"These men and women are running because President Bush and Republicans in Congress have simultaneously mishandled the war in Iraq while launching a misguided assault on veterans benefits," she told AFP.
Republicans however refute the notion that opposition veterans are exposing a Republican weakness on defense. And they point out that most of the Democratic soldiers are considered longshots.
"The perception that candidates who are war veterans are influencing the national party is wrong," said Ed Patru, an NRCC spokesman.
"The fact is that Democrat war veterans are being influenced by the national Democratic Party's surrender message, and the lack of resolve on defense issues that has become institutionalized in the Democrat Party," he told AFP.
One Democratic candidate given good odds was Ladda "Tammy" Duckworth, a US Army National Guard pilot who lost both legs and mangled an arm in November 2004, when the Blackhawk helicopter she was flying was shot down in Iraq.
Duckworth, an Asian-American whose mother is Thai, is hoping to replace retiring Republican Representative Henry Hyde in the heartland state of Illinois.
She got a high-profile endorsement last week from retired general Wesley Clark, a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination who said she was the kind of candidate who can "lead by example and embody the values that make America so special."
"Tammy ... woke up without her legs 10 days after a rocket-propelled grenade exploded in her lap as she flew her helicopter," Clark said.
"We need leaders like Tammy Duckworth on Capitol Hill fighting for what is right," Clark added.
While not launching a direct broadside against Bush, Duckworth makes her opposition to the Iraq war a central tenet of her campaign.
"We ... need people in Congress who represent the generations of young Americans whose lives are directly affected by the foreign policy decisions of the US government," she says in her campaign literature.
"It is critical that we do a better job of understanding how to use this nation's tremendous military power in ways that reflect the essential decency and morality of ordinary Americans."
While there are about a dozen Democratic Iraq vets for Congress, there is currently just one Republican: former US Marine Corps captain Van Taylor, who worked with special operations forces.
If he wins a primary contest, Taylor would face a Democratic incumbent, Representative Chet Edwards, whose heavily Republican district includes Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch.
