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Security

Pentagon Official: War Against Al Qaeda Could Last ‘10 To 20 Years’ More

By Hayes Brown on May 16, 2013 at 12:00 pm

(Credit: SOCOM)

A Department of Defense official said on Thursday that the war against Al Qaeda could last far longer than Obama administration officials have previously predicted in public, saying that it could continue on for another “ten to twenty years.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee today held its first hearing on whether or not to revise or rewrite the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) questioned one of the witnesses, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations Michael Sheehan, about how long he foresaw the war against Al Qaeda will extend for. The answer was much longer than the twelve years that the AUMF has already been in place:

GRAHAM: Do you agree with me the war against radical Islam, or terror, or whatever description you like to provide, will go on after the second term of President Obama?

SHEEHAN: Senator, in my judgement, this is going to go on for quite awhile, yes, beyond the second term of the President.

GRAHAM: And beyond this term of Congress?

SHEEHAN: Yes, sir. I think it’s at least ten to twenty years.

GRAHAM: I think you’re absolutely right. I think we’re involved in a generational struggle.

That response appears to contradict former Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson’s comments in January. At the time, Johnson said the fight against Al Qaeda “shouldn’t be regarded as a perpetual war without any sort of end.” Likewise, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in January that the targeted killing program authorized under the AUMF is “not something that we’re going to have to continue to use forever.” While Sheehan’s comments today put a more definite end date on the AUMF’s authority, they are far further in the future than Johnson and Panetta’s comments would lead one to believe.

Passed in the aftermath of 9/11, the law gave the President broad authority to target “those nations, organizations, or persons” who “planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the 2001 attack. Since then, that authority has been used as the basis for conducting military actions around the world, including not only in Afghanistan, but also in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. At present, the AUMF is criticized for being overly broad in its wording and used to target individuals who had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks, leading to conflicting moves in Congress to either narrow or expand its scope.

The Obama administration does have some say, however, in when the AUMF’s authority expires. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) asked the panel what, other than Congress revoking the AUMF, could shut down the battle against Al Qaeda. “If the President were to issue a declaration stating that the conflict against Al Qaeda has been concluded, I would think that would constitute an end,” the Pentagon’s acting general counsel Robert Taylor said, opening the door to just such a move from President Obama or some future administration.

Climate Progress

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine: ‘We Have A Responsibility To Do Something’ About Climate

By Climate Guest Blogger on Nov 26, 2012 at 3:40 pm

by Mike Casey, via Scaling Green

In our first post on the Clean Energy Forum we held recently at Tigercomm, we noted that there’s an aggressive, ongoing effort by the fossil fuel lobby to push clean energy policy into the culture wars (hat tip to J. Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sun).  How to combat this assault is a pressing question not just for those of us in the clean economy, but also for politicians who get the urgent – even existential – need for our country to develop abundant energy that’s clean and cost-effective.

All too often, though, we have had to choose between one candidate who might support us and one who is cheering our demise (go figure!).  Former Virginia Governor  Tim Kaine recently ran for, and won, a U.S. Senate seat from Virginia. A few weeks earlier, Kaine was willing to sit with some of the sharpest minds and most dynamic companies in the mid-Atlantic region’s clean economy community (note: also see our first and second posts on the forum). He actually wanted to hear from us and had an understanding of what we’re doing.

During the roundtable, Kaine made a number of astute observations, but one particularly jumped out at us regarding the phony Solyndra “scandal.” According to Kaine, demonizing the entire solar industry over one particular company’s demise would be analogous to people arguing that the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill should make us stop using oil completely.

More Kaine:

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Economy

Why A Minimum Income Tax Rate Is A Terrible Idea

By Zack Beauchamp on Sep 20, 2012 at 2:45 pm

After Mitt Romney’s comments about the “47 percent” brought the notion of a dependent class of non-taxpaying Americans to the fore of American political discourse, it was almost inevitable that someone would propose a minimum federal income tax. Former Governor and Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D-VA) did it today, saying, “I would be open to a proposal that would have some minimum tax level for everyone” in a televised debate.

But this idea, also raised by Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) as a solution to the “problem” of 47 percent of Americans not paying federal income tax, would work against the design of several bipartisan anti-poverty tax initiatives. Almost all of the 47 percent that don’t pay federal income tax are either elderly, federal payroll taxpayers, or adults with incomes under $20,000, and most of them pay plenty of other taxes at the federal and state level.

The reason these groups don’t pay income taxes is straightforward: it helps keep them out of poverty and capable of providing for themselves and their families. The centerpiece of the tax reform that brought about this state of affairs is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which provides tax relief for families that make under $36,000 and individuals that make under half that.

This bipartisan tax credit, hailed by President Reagan as “the best antipoverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress,” is the central mechanism allowing working families to buy necessities and stay out of poverty. The effect has been an estimated 3 million less impoverished children per year. The benefits of the EITC have been magnified in recent years by the greater need generated by the Great Recession:

Moreover, the tax breaks that benefit the 47 percent in no way foster a culture of “dependency” on the federal government. The EITC has been “more important than welfare reforms” in moving low-income Americans into the workforce and improving poor students’ performance in school. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ summary of research on the EITC found evidence suggesting “[m]ost EITC recipients claim the credit only temporarily when a job disruption or other significant event reduces their income.” The majority of EITC recipients use it for only one or two years and “EITC recipients as a whole pay far more in federal income taxes than they receive in EITC benefits.”

Update

Kaine responded to a reporter’s question about a minimum tax rate after the debate by saying:

David [Gregory] asked me a question which is would I be open to a discussion about something broader like that and I said sure I’d be open to. Shouldn’t be news that somebody wants to go into the Senate as willing to start from a position of openness and a dialogue. I’ve got a track record. When I was governor we raised the thresholds and took tens of thousands off Virginians, low income Virginians, off the tax rolls and that was the right thing to do under those circumstances but we can’t start with non-negotiables. So when my opponent says we have to solve our problems but we can never consider any new revenue even one dollar for every ten dollars of cuts, or we could never find one dollar of savings on the defense side, you’ve got to start with an openness and not with non negotiable positions.

LGBT

Better Know An Anti-LGBT Senate Candidate: Former Sen. George Allen (R-VA)

By Josh Israel on Aug 31, 2012 at 12:15 pm

Sixth in a series examining how anti-LGBT Senate candidates have worked to hurt the cause of equality.

Former Sen. George Allen (R-VA)

Former Sen. George Allen (R-VA) (Credit: Steve Helber/AP)

After losing his 2006 re-election after his infamous bullying of an Indian-American campaign tracker who he called “macaca,” former Sen. George Allen (R-VA) is seeking to return to the Senate. In June, he won the Republican nomination to run against former Gov. Tim Kaine (D) for the open seat of retiring Sen. Jim Webb (D). Unlike Kaine, who has a solid record of supporting equality, Allen has amassed a consistently anti-LGBT record.

Over his time as Governor of Virginia, in the U.S Senate, and as a candidate:

1. Allen said homosexuality was not “acceptable” and should be “illegal.” In a 1994 radio broadcast, then-Gov. Allen told listeners that he didn’t want his children “even seeing the news of some of these things here, thinking that, this is acceptable behavior.” He added: “I don’t think this is acceptable behavior… and as a matter of government policy I don’t think we should condone that sort of behavior.” In the same broadcast, he praised Virginia’s unconstitutional Crimes Against Nature law –which made private consensual sex between same-sex adults a felony — saying “It’s against the criminal law in Virginia, that homosexual acts are illegal, and I think should stay illegal.”

2. Allen has vigorously fought to stop any recognition for same-sex unions. As Governor, he signed Virginia’s state defense of marriage law in 1997. Allen campaigned for the 2006 state constitutional amendment that banned all state recognition of same-sex unions. He co-sponsored the “Federal Marriage Amendment.” He continues to reaffirm his support for both the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act and a federal constitutional amendment, noting “My stand on marriage is clear: I believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman.”

3. Allen opposed Hate Crimes protections for LGBT Americans — and still does. Though he promised in his 2000 Senate campaign that he would support adding sexual orientation to the federal hate crimes law, in 2005 he changed his mind. “I wouldn’t define it as a flip-flop,” his Virginia state director told reporters. Allen’s reasoning? He feared “some courts that would use that as a building block toward civil rights status, which he is opposed to.” In other words, he worries that treating terrorism against LGBT Americans in the same way as the law treats terrorism against other minority groups would be okay if it weren’t for the risk of a slippery slope that might mean LGBT Americans would have other civil rights. Perhaps unaware that President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law in 2009, on Allen’s current campaign website he bizarrely promises to “vote against adding sexual orientation to federal hate crimes statutes, as he did in 2005.”

4. Allen opposed adding employment protections for LGBT people. Fearing anything that would raise sexual orientation to civil rights “status,” he has never supported the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or other efforts to end anti-LGBT discrimination. In 2004, the Human Rights Campaign listed him as refusing to adopt a voluntary office policy not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Allen’s civil rights record is not much better for other minority groups–he opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and even voted against making Martin Luther King Day a holiday in Virginia.

5. Allen opposed allowing same-sex couples to raise kids. In his 1994 anti-gay radio tirade, he said he opposes same-sex couples raising kids because it is “not in the best interests of a child to be raised in that environment.” His view has not evolved — last year, an Allen spokesman told Politico that the former Senator has never been a supporter of same-sex couples adopting and that he “agrees with Governor [Bob] McDonnell’s [R] recent decision to keep current adoption regulations in place.” Allen also backed efforts to allow adoption agencies to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. His campaign website notes that he “does not support same-sex couples adopting children.”

6. Allen fought against same-sex couples being eligible for low-interest home loans. As Governor, he backed a restriction preventing the Virginia Housing Development Authority from making low-interest home loans to LGBT families. “Governor Allen doesn’t agree with these relationships and is not going to be advocating these relationships in his administration. This could establish a precedent that could lead to a redefinition of what family is,” an Allen spokesman noted at the time, adding that homosexuality was “basically viewed by the governor as an unnatural relationship.”

7. Allen opposed allowing LGBT servicemembers to serve openly and opposes chaplains conducting same-sex ceremonies. In 2000, he criticized his Senate race opponent’s support for allowing gay and lesbian Americans to serve in the military as “Vermont values.” Allen told the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the same campaign that he opposed using the military for “social experimentations.”

Watch Allen explain why he still supports the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act:

While some anti-LGBT politicians quietly oppose equality, Allen puts his opposition front-and-center in a special section on his campaign website. Allen’s return to the U.S. Senate would be a huge threat to LGBT people and families.

Related Posts

Election

A Tale Of Two Ads: How Karl Rove’s Latest Attacks On Tim Kaine Totally Contradict Each Other

By Josh Israel on Aug 22, 2012 at 6:05 pm

Crossroads GPS attack ad

Crossroads GPS attack ad

As part of its latest round of secret-money attack ads, Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS is running a highly misleading and hypocritical attack spot hitting Democratic Senate nominee and former Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA). The ad, entitled “Cost,” slams Kaine for a comment he made last month that the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011 “was the right thing to do.” The compromise saved the country from a potentially disastrous default on its national debt.

Republicans insisted that the debt-ceiling adjustment be paired with massive spending cuts. In the ad Crossroads GPS notes that because the spending cuts in the bill include cuts to the Defense budget, Virginia may see significant job losses, claiming:

Kaine called a plan that puts Defense spending at risk “the right thing,” but newspapers report that that plan could cost Virginia 200,000 jobs — second highest in the country — hitting [the Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads] regions hardest. That’s Tim Kaine not putting Virginia first. Tell him: support a plan that protects Virginia jobs.

Watch the video:

The ad cites a July Richmond Times-Dispatch article for the Kaine quote in support of the compromise. Unlike the article, the ad does not note that prominent Virginia Republicans also supported the deal, including Gov. Bob McDonnell House Republican Leader Eric Cantor. In fact, six of Virginia’s eight Republican Congressmen voted for the bill containing those budget cuts.

The premise of the ad — that spending cuts cost jobs — flatly contradicts another ad the same group is running against Kaine. Their “Holes” ad attacks criticizes Kaine for being too big a spender and concludes with the tagline: “Tell Tim Kaine taxes & spending don’t create jobs. Push to cut the debt.”

Watch the video:

Either governments spending cuts cost jobs or they don’t. Taken in tandem, these ads almost suggest Crossroads GPS is more concerned with attacking Kaine than with presenting a consistent public policy argument.

Politics

Virginia’s Senate Candidates Uninterested In Gun Control Following Colorado Shooting

By Igor Volsky on Jul 21, 2012 at 12:54 pm

Neither candidate for Senate from Virginia seemed inclined to call for stronger gun control in the aftermath of Friday’s shooting at a movie theater in Colorado, suggesting that the tragedy is unlikely to revive a national debate over the issue.

During a debate on Saturday hosted by the Virginia Bar Association, Republican George Allen and Democrat Tim Kaine appeared to dodge questions about whether tougher gun restrictions can help prevent gun violence (via CNN Director of Political Research Robert Yoon):

The alleged shooter James Holmes used four weapons in the shooting, including an AR-15 rife that would have been defined as a “semiautomatic assault weapon” under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 — which expired in 2004. “The type of ammunition magazine Holmes is accused of using was banned for new production under the old federal assault weapon ban.” Though once it expired, “gun manufacturers flooded the market with the type of high-capacity magazines Holmes used Friday.”

Allen has been endorsed by NRA, voted against renewal of assault weapons ban and was an original sponsor of act to repeal Washington, D.C.’s gun ban. He also introduced legislation that would allow national park visitors to carry concealed weapons. Kaine, meanwhile, does advocate for some gun limits, “including preventing felons and the mentally ill from purchasing weapons.”

Election

Rove’s Crossroads GPS Spends $1.2 Million Of Secret Money On Dishonest Attacks In Key Senate Races

By Josh Israel on Apr 25, 2012 at 2:58 pm

Crossroads GPS Attack Ad (Virginia)

Crossroads GPS Attack Ad (Virginia)

Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS is using $1.2 million of its secret money to launch attack ads against Democrats in five closely-contested senate races, this week. The tax-exempt 501(c)(4) is running “issue ads” blasting Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Sen. John Tester (D-MT), former Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), former Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Rep. Shelley Berkeley (D-NV).

Crossroads GPS, which almost exclusively backs Republicans, claims, “these spots [are] intend to alert citizens to the anti-job policies in Washington and push for real economic solutions to create jobs,” but the spots are little more than dishonest attacks against Democratic candidates and President Obama.

The ads attempt to cast the Democratic candidates as stand-ins for Obama, but because Heitkamp and Kaine have never served in Congress, the attacks on these two are particularly disingenuous.

In North Dakota, Crossroads GPS uses the same clip of Heitkamp as the National Republican Senatorial Campaign (NRSC) posted on YouTube last week. Like the NRSC, Crossroads takes out of context an innocent comment by Heitkamp that she expected then-candidate Obama’s 2008 convention speech to be “amazing,” and it attempts to use that as a way of blaming Heitkamp for everything the group dislikes about Obama and the Affordable Care Act.

The clip comes from a 2008 video made by North Dakota attorney and Democratic National Committeeman Chad Nodland. Nodland successful got YouTube to remove the NRSC’s posting of the video, citing his copyright of the footage. In an email, he confirmed to ThinkProgress that he is already preparing a cease-and-desist letter to Crossroads GPS and will alert YouTube and North Dakota television stations to the copyright violation. (Out of respect for Mr. Nodland’s legal right to the video, ThinkProgress will not link to the Crossroads GPS spot).

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NEWS FLASH

George Allen Rejects Kaine Proposal To Curb Secret Money | Former Sen. George Allen (R-VA), who is now running for his old senate seat, rejected a proposal by likely Democratic nominee former Gov. Tim Kaine aimed at eliminating secret money from the 2012 Virginia senate race arising from 501(c)(4) groups like Crossroads GPS. Allen, who had earlier endorsed the concept of “full disclosure,” suggested that Kaine’s proposal was an “unfortunate gimmick, typical of the partisan gamesmanship playing out in Washington today.” Prior to this incident, Allen also rejected a Kaine proposal to eliminate super PAC spending similar to the agreement adopted in the Massachusetts senate race. Allen’s support for unlimited corporate and secret donors using shady 501(c)(4)s and super PAcs to influence the race is unsurprising: high-dollar political donors overwhelming favor Republicans.

Politics

Virginia state representative compares stimulus package to slavery.

By Satyam Khanna on Mar 2, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Not Larry Sabato notes that this weekend, when discussing the economic recovery package, Virginia state delegate Robert Marshall (R) compared the bill to slavery, claiming that it will put generations of Virginians in “ankle bracelets”:

MARSHALL:That is as much a chain of slavery around our children. … It is as much a chain as ankle bracelets were as to African-Americans in the 1860s in this state. It’s just invisible. But it is a chain of death that we’re not going to escape.

Watch it:

“If anybody wonders whether the stimulus package mattered, 7,100 people are going to have jobs with the state government,” Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) noted Saturday.

Politics

Rove Flips On Qualifications For Vice Presidency, Says Palin Is Qualified For Same Reason Kaine Was Not

By Ryan Powers on Aug 30, 2008 at 8:00 am

Earlier this month, Karl Rove repeatedly argued that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) would not be “capable” of being Vice President. He complained that “he’s been a governor for three years” and said Kaine was mayor of only the “the 105th largest city in America,” referring to Kaine’s tenure as mayor of Richmond, VA. “It’s not a big town,” he quipped.

Yesterday, however, Rove argued just the opposite with regard to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). He explained on Fox News that Palin was a good choice as McCain’s vice presidential nominee because she was “mayor of the second largest city in Alaska”:

ROVE: She’s a populist, she’s an economic and a social conservative, she’s a reformer, she took on the incumbent governor of the state Frank Murkowski — Republican — beat him in the primary, won an upset in the general election. She’s a former mayor. She’s the mayor of, I think, the second largest city in Alaska before she ran for governor.

Watch it:

Kaine was indeed mayor of the ‘the 105th largest city in America.’ While there, he governed nearly 200,000 people and managed a bureaucracy of over 8,000 employees. By contrast, Palin was mayor of Wasilla, AK, a town of just over 8,000 people that currently employs just over 100 individuals and — contrary to Rove’s claim — didn’t even make it into the 10 largest cities in AK while she was mayor.

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