Banking Exec to Run in Congressional Primary
Thursday, April 11, 2008
Chester, NJ, April 11, 2008. Chester Vietnam Veteran and retired banker Harry Hager announced today that he has filed with the New Jersey Division of Elections to enter the Democratic Primary in June. The winner of the Primary will run against Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen in November.
"Congressman Frelinghuysen in his opening campaign statements has pledged to support John McCain's for the presidency," Hager said. Both Frelinghuysen and McCain have pledged to maintain the current troop levels in Iraq. Hager believes the Iraq occupation is too expensive and wants to bring the troops home as soon as possible. "General Petraeus is an intelligent and an honest man, and he cannot look us in the eye and tell us that we are making progress."
"John McCain will come to Morristown," Hager predicted. "He and Rodney Frelinghuysen will once again wrap themselves in the Flag. The patriotism, the honor, the credibility of any Democrat who questions their Three Trillion Dollar War will be dismissed as hopelessly naïve. I know their arguments, and I can stand up to them.
Once again, older men will say anything to cover up for their mistakes -- they will see "a light at the end of the tunnel" -- while younger men and women fight and die."
"My Democratic opponents,' Hager said, "don't really know why this war cannot be won." " With McCain's backing, Frelinghuysen will cut them to ribbons."
"Missed Opportunities, Misplaced Priorities, and Fiscal Fairytales"
Hager referred to Democrat David Obey, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee whose recent (February 6) report -- "Missed Opportunities, Misplaced Priorities, and Fiscal Fairytales" -- identifies, Hager said, the true Opportunity Costs of the War.
"The true costs of the War, Hager said, "are reflected in the programs cut or eliminated in President Bush's 2009 Federal Budget request." According to the David Obey's statement, they include the following:
Homeland Security Grants cut in half from, $4 billion to $2 billion
- 2 -
Airport Modernization, Improvement and Efficiency Grants cut from $3.6 to $2.8 billion.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programs cut from $1.6 billion to $1.2 billion.
Port Security Grants cut from $400 million to $210 million.
Bioterrorism Grants cut from $1.1 billion to $970 million.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance cut from $2.6 billion to $2.0 billion.
Workforce Investment Act programs cut from $3.2 billion to $2.7 billion.
Nuclear Contamination Clean-up cut from $620 million to $480 million.
Vocational Education Programs cut from $1.3 billion to zero.
K - 12 Technology in the Classroom cut from $270 million to zero.
Low Income Weatherization Assistance cut from $227 million to zero.
The full report is at: http://appropriations.house.go...
"Everyone talks about the War," Hager said, "but I am the only candidate who has actually been in a war -- and the only one who has actually seen what guerilla warfare and counter-insurgency looks like."
Hager held a top secret security clearance and worked for the S-2 Intelligence Operations in Vietnam. He wrote the daily intelligence briefings for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. At the time, he said, the CO was General George Patton III, son of "Old Blood & Guts" of WWII fame.
The Hager family has a history in the military. A brother served in Vietnam as a pilot, and their father received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star in the Philippines in WWII. An uncle was killed in Italy in 1944. "As a family, we have lived with the consequences of war," he said. "As much as McCain or Frelinghuysen, my family has paid its dues. We have earned the right to speak out -- and so I shall."
Find, Fix, Kill or Destroy
"My experience in Vietnam," Hager said, "tells me this war cannot be won. Once again, we have occupied a country whose language we do no speak, whose culture we do not understand. Once again, we have alienated the population, so much that we have lost
- 3 -
their trust and cannot rely on them to identify the enemy. If we cannot identify the enemy, we cannot find, fix, kill or destroy. Without safety and security, there can be no political solution. That's military doctrine, and our own doctrine says our Iraq strategy is fatally flawed."
"The similarities between our problems in Vietnam and our problems in Iraq," Hager said, "were impossible to ignore. The Lessons of Vietnam were well documented. Yet Rodney Frelinghuysen spent a year in Vietnam and either ignored the lessons or learned nothing."
"Today, Frelinghuysen is a senior member on the Defense Appropriations Sub-committee. This is the Congressional committee that has oversight of the Defense Department." The Defense Department is the only federal department that has never been fully audited. The opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse are staggering."
"To win the hearts and minds of the people, we needed Arab linguists and translators, civil affairs personnel, health care personnel, and even cultural anthropologists. We will pay $135 million for a single F-22 aircraft, but the linguists and translators, the body armor and armored vehicles for the troops, were too little and too late. Surely, if there is any Congressional oversight of the Department of Defense, all of this is the responsibility of Defense Appropriations. "
"Surely, Defense Appropriations is fully implicated in the mismanagement and misappropriation of billions of dollars in defense spending. All of this waste and fraud has happened on his watch."
"Yet Mr. Frelinghuysen dares to preach fiscal conservativism and prudence to the voters of the 11th CD."
------------------------------------
Harry Hager served on the Chester School Board from 1998 to 2001. He was president of the Chester Optimist Club from 1997 to 2000. He was a founding member of the Chester Pool Committee that created the June Hines Chester Swimming Pool complex, a founding member and the first treasurer of the Educational Foundation for the Chesters, and a founding member of the Chester Taxpayers for Education.
He and his wife Karen have been Chester residents for 16 years. In their spare time they run the Fulbright German-American Student Exchange - which brings up to forty German high school students to Morris/Somerset areas each spring. They also raise West Highland Terriers.
Contact person: Harry Hager
Phone Number: (908) 879 0361
Email Address: harryhager.congress@gmail.com
|
