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Editorial

Legion to White House: We must not lose Afghanistan INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 24, 2009) – The head of the nation’s largest veterans organization is urging President Obama to give commanders the troops that they need to succeed in Afghanistan. “According to The Washington Post, General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO Commander, is warning us that without more forces within the next year, the mission in Afghanistan ‘will likely result in failure.’ Considering that Afghanistan was the breeding ground for the 9/11 attacks, we cannot allow that to happen,” said American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill. “We have seen a successful troop surge and counterinsurgency strategy work in Iraq. We owe it to our men and women who are serving in Afghanistan to do the same there. We must give them the tools they need to succeed.” Hill said he is troubled that civilian officials in Washington appear reluctant to grant McChrystal’s request, which many believe could be as high as 40,000 additional troops. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates will not consider escalating the military mission in Afghanistan until President Obama and his national security team “are ready to consider it.” “More than 800 brave American heroes have died in Afghanistan so far,” Hill said. “They died replacing and then protecting us from an evil regime that harbored terrorists. We must not try to ‘fight a war on the cheap’ and let our losses be for naught. General David Petraeus and Admiral Mike Mullen both support General McChrystal’s report.” Hill’s position is also shared by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who said in Fortune Magazine, “It’s that simple. If you want another terrorist attack in the U.S., abandon Afghanistan.” Last month, Adm. Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at The American Legion National Convention that the war cannot be won from the Pentagon. “You have to be there,” he said. “You have to see and hear firsthand what the issues are. You can’t hope to see problems through someone else’s eyes if you aren’t looking into those eyes.” With a current membership of 2.5-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

Editorial

The American Legion strongly opposes ACLU continuing campaign to release controversial detainee photos. Civil liberties group says it “shares deep concern” about safety of troops. Legion has doubts. WASHINGTON (Sept. 24, 2009) – The leader of the nation’s largest veterans’ service organization says he considers a civil liberties group’s continuing campaign to force the public release of photographs purposing to exhibit abuse of suspected terrorists to be “unconscionable.” In a breakfast briefing at the National Press Club in Washington this week, the legal director of The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Steven R. Shapiro, said his group “shares deep concern” about the safety of American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq but, nevertheless, will pursue a legal course that could, say some, endanger them. “Military leaders and president Obama himself have conceded that the release of the controversial detainee photographs could be used as propaganda and recruitment tools for terrorists and result in severe retaliation against our troops so it’s hard to not doubt the ACLU’s alleged concern for our warriors,” said Clarence E. Hill, national commander of The American Legion. In pressing for release of the photos, the ACLU says that the public has a “right to know” about what they consider government misconduct in the form of prisoner abuse, and that suppression of the photos-which may number as many as two thousand, says the group-could seriously endanger the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and result in future cover-ups of abuse of governmental power. “No one wants a government to go unchecked, but the detainee abuses have been very well documented and very well publicized already,” Hill said. “In response, the ACLU argues that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ That may be, but is the spotlighting in a sensational way of this past misconduct worth the risk? We don’t think so.” The ACLU’s briefing was a preview of cases and issues to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in its upcoming legal season. With a current membership of 2.5-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.