Batting 1000 - and striking out

Libertarian assails Iraq war as body count climbs

Colorado Springs, CO (PRWEB) September 9, 2004 -- On the radio, a newscast has just announced the 1,000th American death in Iraq. Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party's 2004 presidential candidate, leans back in the car, loosens his tie and sighs as his assistant, Jon Airheart, drives him to the day's next campaign event.

"It's got to be a heavy burden," says Badnarik. "I sympathize with President Bush, because I can't believe he intended for things to come out this way. But at the end of the day, he's responsible. That's what being president is all about."

"My opponents seem to think that being responsible means doing the wrong thing and standing by it. I'd rather have a president who does the right thing, even when it means losing a little face. The Commander in Chief owes the troops, and the people, that loyalty."

Badnarik, 50, of Austin Texas, isn't shy about saying what the right thing is.

"Thirty years ago, John Kerry asked 'how can you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?' It was a good question. His answer, and President Bush's, seems to be that you don't -- that you just let the killing go on and on rather than admit the mistake and put an end to it. Bush says 'stay the course.' Kerry says he hopes to have the troops out four years from now. I say 90 days, and only that long because it takes time to move troops out of hostile territory safely, displacing by echelon and providing mutual security."

"Bush is batting a thousand now," he continues. "But he's struck out. There aren't any weapons of mass destruction. We've put a Ba'athist back in charge in Baghdad, southern Iraq is in the process of becoming part of a Greater Iran, and the Kurds are set to destabilize the whole region for their dream of an independent nation. You can't redeem that. You can't make good on it. The best you can do is to get out without further loss of American life and hope that the damage you did eventually heals."

Airheart, eyes on the road, nods his agreement and chimes in. "A majority of Americans think the war was a mistake. Why is Michael Badnarik the only candidate with a plan to get us out of there?"

Badnarik is polling in single digits around the country, but optimistic that his campaign can change the political landscape. "We were at 5% in New Mexico as our anti-war ad ran there. It evoked a lot of reaction," he says. "Oddly enough, it was mostly Republicans who liked it. Democrats called to complain that we shouldn't talk about Kerry's actual position. Apparently they think he deserves the anti-war vote, even though he says he'd have gone to war in Iraq, too and that he plans to keep us there."

"How can you ask someone to be the deciding voter to vote for one of two mistakes? How can you ask him to pull a lever and put his seal of approval on 1,000 dead American men and women -- not to mention countless dead Iraqi men, women and children?" he asks. "But the Republicans and Democrats are both asking Americans to do exactly that. We're offering a different way -- a better way. And I have to believe that Americans will respond, and that they will remember."

He straightens his tie as the car pulls to a stop, and exits. His public is waiting.

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