{"id":278731,"date":"2010-02-04T19:35:18","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T00:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2010-02-04-iraq-veterans-hit-gop-for-aiding-terrorists-with-oil-money\/"},"modified":"2010-02-04T19:35:18","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T00:35:18","slug":"iraq-veterans-hit-gop-for-aiding-terrorists-with-oil-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/278731","title":{"rendered":"Iraq veterans hit GOP for aiding terrorists with oil money"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tby Brad Johnson <\/p>\n<p>Cross-posted from <a href=\"http:\/\/wonkroom.thinkprogress.org\/2010\/02\/04\/vote-vets-terrorism\/\">Wonk Room<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>In a series of hard-hitting television ads, a liberal veterans<br \/>advocacy organization challenges Republican lawmakers for blocking<br \/>clean energy legislation that would cut oil funds to terrorists. As<br \/>part of a <a href=\"http:\/\/votevets.org\/news?id=0289\">$2 million television ad campaign<\/a>,<br \/>VoteVets has released a national spot as well as ones targeting Senate<br \/>Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and Sen.<br \/>John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) for their opposition to climate and clean energy<br \/>legislation. Other ads challenge representatives in Illinois, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M6cFUKi4EzE\">Iowa<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8a68jhnsCDA\">Indiana<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0C2LsskP-qk\">South Dakota<\/a>.<br \/>As the spots point out, each member has taken thousands of dollars from<br \/>oil companies that have operations in nations like Iran, Libya, Saudi<br \/>Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria, and Algeria. The national ad explains the <a href=\"http:\/\/wonkroom.thinkprogress.org\/2010\/02\/01\/qdr-climate-threat\/\">connection between our dependence on oil <\/a>and terrorists like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab:<\/p>\n<p>Terrorists. They&#8217;re trying to kill Americans at home and<br \/>our troops abroad. And who&#8217;s footing the bill for the attacks against<br \/>us? Oil money. Filtered through secret organizations in the Middle East<br \/>and countries like Iran. <strong>When oil money hands up in the hands of our enemies, Americans pay the ultimate price<\/strong>.<br \/>We&#8217;ve got to protect ourselves and end our dependence on foreign oil.<br \/>Tell Congress: Pass the Clean Energy and American Power Act now.<\/p>\n<p>Watch it:<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The local spots are unflinching, featuring local veterans of the<br \/>Iraq War. Veteran Benjamin Cossel, of Pine Bluffs, Wy. tells Sen.<br \/>Barrasso to &#8220;decide whose side he&#8217;s on&#8221;&#8212;the terrorist-enabling oil<br \/>companies that have given him $50,500, or the American people:<\/p>\n<p>For thirty years, we&#8217;ve been warned about the danger of<br \/>spending billions of dollars oil. The United States military calls it a<br \/>major threat to our security. And on Christmas Day over Detroit, we<br \/>were reminded again how oil money can support terrorism against us. But<br \/>even today, Sen. John Barrasso won&#8217;t break our addiction. And he won&#8217;t<br \/>break his own. Call Sen. Barrasso. <strong>It&#8217;s time for him to decide whose side he&#8217;s on<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Veteran James Sander of Columbia, Mo. challenges Rep. Blunt for taking<br \/>$151,000 in oil money and voting against the Waxman-Markey American<br \/>Clean Energy and Security Act:<\/p>\n<p>When a terrorist tried to attack us on Christmas Day, I<br \/>was reminded why I&#8217;m willing to risk my life for America&#8217;s security and<br \/>why we need to stop sending billions in oil money to countries with<br \/>ties to terrorism. But Congressman Blunt voted against the bipartisan<br \/>clean energy bill that could cut our dependence in half. And he&#8217;s taken<br \/>thousands from oil companies that do business in countries with ties to<br \/>terrorism. Congressman: it&#8217;s time to put America&#8217;s security ahead of<br \/>your own politics.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>George Zubaty, of Louisville, KY takes on the minority leader for taking $150,800 in dirty oil cash:<\/p>\n<p>When a terrorist tried to attack us on Christmas Day, I<br \/>was reminded why I&#8217;m willing to risk my life for America&#8217;s security and<br \/>why we need to stop sending billions in oil money to countries with<br \/>ties to terrorism. But Sen. Mitch McConnell is against against the<br \/>bipartisan clean energy bill that could cut our dependence in half. And<br \/>he&#8217;s taken thousands from oil companies that do business in countries<br \/>with ties to terrorism. Sen. McConnell: it&#8217;s time to put America&#8217;s<br \/>security ahead of your own politics.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>As the Pentagon&#8217;s Quadrennial Defense Review noted, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/wonkroom.thinkprogress.org\/2010\/02\/01\/qdr-climate-threat\/\">climate change<\/a>,<br \/>energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked.&#8221; And<br \/>the number one link is our deadly dependence on petroleum.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2010-02-01-pentagon-climate-change-energy-security-and-economic-stability-a\/\">Pentagon: &#8216;Climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/water-conflict-and-security-on-the-banks-of-the-hudson\/\">Water, conflict, and security on the banks of the Hudson<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/veteran-wins-groundbreaking-claim-for-agent-orange-exposure-at-georgia-mili\/\">Veteran wins groundbreaking claim for Agent Orange exposure at Georgia military base<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/click.phdo?s=d93b33d55b4de2b27302681c758e1bb8&#038;p=1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" style=\"border: 0;\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/img.phdo?s=d93b33d55b4de2b27302681c758e1bb8&#038;p=1\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"0\" width=\"0\" border=\"0\" style=\"display:none\" src=\"http:\/\/a.rfihub.com\/eus.gif?eui=2223\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from Wonk Room. In a series of hard-hitting television ads, a liberal veteransadvocacy organization challenges Republican lawmakers for blockingclean energy legislation that would cut oil funds to terrorists. Aspart of a $2 million television ad campaign,VoteVets has released a national spot as well as ones targeting SenateMinority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":765,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}