| Military & Defense Issues |
* Barack Obama - D
 |
Ralph Nader - I
 |
Chuck Baldwin - CON
 |
| Military, a General Statement |
Obama: I will expand our military, while offering those who serve the promise that they will get the training, equipment, and care they deserve - and that they can trust we will never, ever, send them to fight in a misguided war.
Source: www.barackobama.com/2007/12/05/obama_issues_call_to_serve_vow.php Date: 12/05/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Defense and Military Budget |
Obama: Our most complex military challenge will involve putting boots on the ground in the ungoverned or hostile regions where terrorists thrive. That requires a smarter balance between what we spend on fancy hardware and what we spend on our men and women in uniform. That should mean growing the size of our armed forces to maintain reasonable rotation schedules, keeping our troops properly equipped, and training them in the skills they'll need to succeed in increasingly complex and difficult missions.
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p.307 Date: 10/01/2006 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Military Policy |
Obama: I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income, to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A war based not on reason but on passion.
Source: The Improbable Quest, by John K. Wilson, p. 43-44 Date: 10/30/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Department of Defense and Pentagon |
Obama: No Response |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Military Adequacy |
Obama: In an Obama Administration, I will ensure that America goes to war with the armed forces it needs. Our troops should not be over-stretched. We need to ensure that our ability to respond to threats around the world is never compromised. And I will always respect -- and not ignore -- the advice of military commanders. But I will also make clear that when I am President, the buck will stop in the Oval Office.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been marked by repeated and unpredictable deployments. Aircraft bound for home have been turned around. Soldiers and Marines have served two, three or four tours. Retention rates of West Point graduates are approaching records lows. We need to keep these battle-hardened majors and captains so they can become tomorrow's generals. We need predictable rotations. We need to deploy troops at an appropriate state of readiness.
I will add 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines to relieve the strain on our ground forces. I will maintain our technological edge and invest in the capabilities we need to succeed in the missions of the 21st century. That means training for critical languages like Arabic, for civil affairs, and for increased Special Forces. And I will heed the call for greater civilian capacity. Our troops, trained for war, are serving as water and electricity experts in Baghdad and agricultural advisors in Kandahar. The finest military in the world needs civilian partners who can carry out critical missions. We need to strengthen and integrate all aspects of American might.
And this is not just about programs and policies. It's about people. Part of our sacred trust with the men and women who serve is also providing the equipment they need. We've had troops deploying to Iraq who had to buy life-saving equipment on-line. That's not America. That's not who we are. As President, I will ensure that every service-member has what they need to do the job safely and successfully.
Source: www.barackobama.com/2007/08/21/obama_vows_to_keep_sacred_trus.php Date: 08/21/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Military Industrial Establishment |
Obama: No Response |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Cluster Bombs |
Obama: No Response |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Reducing Military Costs |
Obama: We cannot win a fight for hearts and minds when we outsource critical missions to unaccountable contractors. To add insult to injury, these contractors are charging taxpayers up to nine times more to do the same jobs as soldiers, a disparity that damages troop morale.
Last week, I pushed through a provision to improve transparency by requiring our federal government to inform the public about how many contractors they're using, what it's costing us, and what their functions are. I've also proposed tougher government reform than any other candidate in this race - reforms that would eliminate the kind of no-bid contracts that this administration has given to Blackwater.
I'm proposing the creation of a special FBI unit devoted entirely to investigating abuses by contractors. This week, the FBI announced it was sending a team to Iraq to look into the incident with Blackwater earlier this month. I'm glad to see it. But this shouldn't be just a temporary job for the FBI - it should be one of their permanent responsibilities.
Source: www.barackobama.com/2007/10/03/obama_make_security_contractor.php Date: 10/03/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Re-instituting the Draft |
Obama: I don't agree with the draft.
Source: CNN/YouTube Democratic Presidential Debate, Charleston, SC Date: 07/23/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Military Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC Commission) |
Obama: I agree with the mission of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. From time to time we as a nation need to re-evaluate our strategic and operational defense requirements. However, such re-evaluation must adhere to a clear set of criteria and the BRAC process must be transparent and fair. Unfortunately, the BRAC Commission failed to adhere to consistent criteria and some of its recommendations appear far from fair. As a result, the Commission has recommended some divisions with the highest military value in the nation for realignment or closure, while recommending departments with far lower military value remain open. Given the haphazard process by which some of the BRAC Commission's decisions appear to have been made, and the unfair treatment I believe the Rock Island Arsenal received in the BRAC process, I cannot support the Commission's recommendations. I will oppose the recommendations if they come to a vote.
Source: Candidate Website Date: 10/04/2008 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Reservists and National Guard |
Obama: "It's time to use the Guard and Reserves responsibly," Obama said. "No more unpredictable deployments. No more extended tours. No more failures to plan, to communicate down the chain of command, or to reset the equipment that we've left in Iraq. When we've got service-members who have to find out that their tour has been extended in a phone call home, we're not keeping that trust, and we're not keeping this country safe."
Obama said that as President, he will require a period of rest and standard of readiness before Guard troops can be redeployed. He also said that he will elevate the Chief of the National Guard to the rank of a four-star general and make him or her a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To ensure that Guardsmen and Reservists and their families are taken care of back home, Obama said he will improve mental health care, including screening and treatment for PTSD, and will extend the Family Medical Leave Act so that spouses have time to care for their families when their wife or husband is called up. Finally, Obama said he understands the critical role the Guard and Reserves play in their states, and will work with Governors across the country to ensure they can accomplish their missions back home.
"I will not be a President who sends our Guard off to fight in a misguided war, while telling America's governors to hope that a big snowstorm won't hit next winter, or that a tornado won't come through town. I will not be a President who extends tours for our Guard units overseas, while Americans are stranded on rooftops right here at home. We need to turn the page," Obama said.
Source: www.barackobama.com/2007/10/04/obama_announces_plan_to_honor.php Date: 10/04/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Military Families |
Obama: We need to provide more services to our military families. Let me thank the VFW for helping families with everything from repairs and errands to calling cards that bring a loved one nearer. Efforts like Operation Uplink make a huge difference. You are filling in some of the painful spaces in peoples' lives. And anyone who has visited our military hospitals has seen wonderful spouses who don't see visiting hours as part-time. That's why I passed a bill to provide family members with a year of job protection, so they never have to face a choice between caring for a loved one and keeping a job.
Source: www.barackobama.com/2007/08/21/obama_vows_to_keep_sacred_trus.php Date: 08/21/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Military Pay, Medical Care and Benefits |
Obama: I have fought to improve shameful care for wounded warriors. I led a bipartisan effort to improve outpatient facilities, slash red tape, and reform the disability review process -- because recovering troops should always go to the front of the line, and they shouldn't have to fight to get there.
Source: www.barackobama.com/2007/08/21/obama_vows_to_keep_sacred_trus.php Date: 08/21/2007 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| National Guard / Reserve Pay, Medical Care and Benefits |
Obama: [The US should] prepare our military to meet the new threats of the 21st century. We must prepare our military to meet the new threats of the 21st century by making sure that we have sufficient forces and by giving our soldiers the best equipment and training available. We must also ensure that members of our National Guard and reservists have access to affordable, quality health care.
Source: Press Release, "Renewal of American Leadership " Date: 07/12/2004 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Gays in the Military |
Obama: No Response |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Defense, a General Statement |
Obama: No Response |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Missile Defense System, "Star Wars" |
Obama: No Response |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty |
Obama: No Response |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) |
Obama: I've worked on nuclear proliferation in the Senate, to improve interdiction of potentially nuclear materials. It is important for us to rebuild a nuclear nonproliferation strategy, something that this administration has ignored, and has made us less safe as a consequence. It would not cost us that much, for example, and would take about four years for us to lock down the loose nuclear weapons that are still floating out there, and we have not done the job.
Source: 2008 Facebook/WMUR-NH Democratic primary debate Date: 01/06/2008 |
Nader: No Response |
Baldwin: No Response |
| Military & Defense Issues |
Bob Barr - L
 |
John Mccain - R
 |
| Military, a General Statement |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: In a dangerous world, protecting America's national security requires a strong military. Today, America has the most capable, best-trained and best-led military force in the world. But much needs to be done to maintain our military leadership, retain our technological advantage, and ensure that America has a modern, agile military force able to meet the diverse security challenges of the 21st century. John McCain is committed to ensuring that the men and women of our military remain the best, most capable fighting force on Earth - and that our nation honors its promises to them for their service.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Defense and Military Budget |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: John McCain understands national security and the threats facing our nation. He recognizes the dangers posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, violent Islamist extremists and their terrorist tactics, and the ever present threat of regional conflict that can spill into broader wars that endanger allies and destabilize areas of the world vital to American security. He knows that to protect our homeland, our interests, and our values - and to keep the peace - America must have the best manned, best equipped, and best supported military in the world. John McCain has been a tireless advocate of our military and ensuring that our forces are properly postured, funded, and ready to meet the nation's obligations both at home and abroad. He has fought to modernize our forces, to ensure that America maintains and expands its technological edge against any potential adversary, and to see that our forces are capable and ready to undertake the variety of missions necessary to meet national security objectives.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Military Policy |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: John McCain believes that the answer to these challenges is not to roll back our overseas commitments. The size and composition of our armed forces must be matched to our nation's defense requirements. As requirements expand in the global war on terrorism so must our Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard be reconfigured to meet these new challenges. John McCain thinks it is especially important to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to defend against the threats we face today. John McCain knows that the most difficult and solemn decision a president must make is sending young Americans into harm's way. Having experienced firsthand the brutality of war, as president, John McCain would never make the decision to use force lightly, only when the cause is just, and our nation's values and interests absolutely demand it.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Department of Defense and Pentagon |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: No Response |
| Military Adequacy |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: The most important weapons in the U.S. arsenal are the men and women of American armed forces. John McCain believes we must enlarge the size of our armed forces to meet new challenges to our security. For too long, we have asked too much of too few – with the result that many service personnel are on their second, third and even fourth tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. There can be no higher defense priority than the proper compensation, training, and equipping of our troops. Our existing force is overstretched by the combination of military operations in the broader Middle East and the need to maintain our security commitments in Europe and Asia. Recruitment and retention suffer from extended overseas deployments that keep service personnel away from their homes and families for long periods of time.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Military Industrial Establishment |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: No Response |
| Cluster Bombs |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: No Response |
| Reducing Military Costs |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: John McCain has worked aggressively to reform the defense budgeting process to ensure that America enjoys the best military at the best cost. This includes reforming defense procurement to ensure the faithful and efficient expenditure of taxpayer dollars that are made available for defense acquisition. Too often, parochial interests – rather than the national interest – have guided our spending decisions. John McCain supports significant reform in our defense acquisition process to ensure that dollars spent actually contribute to U.S. security.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Re-instituting the Draft |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: I am glad to see that troop increases are in the pipeline but current plans are not enough. As president, I would bring the army and Marines from the currently planned level of roughly 750,000 to 900,000. This will cost real money, some $15 billion annually, but it will not require a draft any more than similar levels did in the 1980s. It is vitally important for the next president to issue a call to service, to summon the young men and women of America to defend their country and its noble ideals. I am confident that this generation will answer the summons just as so many of us did in previous generations.
Source: John McCain's official candidate website Date: 07/13/2007 |
| Military Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC Commission) |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: McCain said numerous unneeded military bases, which have been kept open by congressmen eager to avoid unemployment & dislocation in their districts, should be closed. That, along with eliminating unnecessary weapons systems, would save up to $20 billion that could modernize forces to face current threats, he said. McCain took pains to absolve military leaders of blame for the lack of preparedness, faulting instead what he called gross neglect of real military needs by politicians from both parties.
Source: Boston Globe, p. A19 Date: 12/08/1999 |
| Reservists and National Guard |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: The nation's reserve personnel have been a vital component of the Global War on Terror, with reservists serving side-by-side with active duty members in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the globe. John McCain believes that the fundamental role of reservists has changed over the last decade, and given their invaluable role and the tremendous sacrifices that these men and women have made, they should receive additional benefits than those that they have traditionally been granted. For this reason, John McCain has supported legislation to expand retirement benefits for reservists, supported provisions to expand eligibility for health care benefits for reservists and their families, and sponsored legislation to grant survivor benefit payments to the spouses of reservists who die during or as the result of training.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Military Families |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: Our military personnel and their families deserve the nation's unfailing gratitude, respect, and support. As a former naval officer with a distinguished record of military service, John McCain understands the profound sacrifices made by our men and women who serve in the uniform of our country and their families.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Military Pay, Medical Care and Benefits |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: John McCain believes that meeting the needs of our service members who defend us is our obligation and is essential to our national security. He worked to increase pay scales for servicemen and women during both the Persian Gulf War and the current War on Terror and to increase enlistment and reenlistment bonuses for reservists and guardsmen. He also sponsored bills to give special tax relief to deployed service members and to set up overseas savings programs for the men and women fighting in the Gulf War.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| National Guard / Reserve Pay, Medical Care and Benefits |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: No Response |
| Gays in the Military |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: All the time, I talk to our military leaders, beginning with our joint chiefs of staff and the leaders in the field, such as General Petraeus and General Odierno and others who are designated leaders with the responsibility of the safety of the men and women under their command and their security and protect them as best they can.
Almost unanimously, they tell me that this present policy [Don't Ask/Don't Tell: No openly gay people in military] is working, that we have the best military in history, that we have the bravest, most professional, best prepared, and that this policy ought to be continued because it's working.
Source: Republican Presidential Debate, St. Petersburg, Florida Date: 11/28/2007 |
| Defense, a General Statement |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: We were proud to serve, but I don't think that any of us who encountered war think that it's anything but the worst thing, or the next to worst thing... Veterans really hate war. I hope there's no glorification of war in anything I've written or said.
Source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/107581 Date: 02/12/2008 |
| Missile Defense System, "Star Wars" |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: John McCain strongly supports the development and deployment of theater and national missile defenses. Effective missile defenses are critical to protect America from rogue regimes like North Korea that possess the capability to target America with intercontinental ballistic missiles, from outlaw states like Iran that threaten American forces and American allies with ballistic missiles, and to hedge against potential threats from possible strategic competitors like Russia and China. Effective missile defenses are also necessary to allow American military forces to operate overseas without being deterred by the threat of missile attack from a regional adversary. John McCain is committed to deploying effective missile defenses to reduce the possibility of strategic blackmail by rogue regimes and to secure our homeland from the very real prospect of missile attack by present or future adversaries. America should never again have to live in the shadow of missile and nuclear attack. As President, John McCain will not trust in the "balance of terror" to protect America, but will work to deploy effective missile defenses to safeguard our people and our homeland.
Source: www.johnmccain.com Date: 12/05/2007 |
| Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: A massive nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union is no longer our central preoccupation. The threat is much more diverse, and more difficult to deter. We urgently need a practical ballistic missile defense, and the ABM Treaty is for the moment blocking us from obtaining it. [We should develop] a defense against terrorists and rogue states that will benefit all nations. Let us praise the good intentions that created the ABM Treaty, then consign it to the history pages where it belongs.
Source: www.mccain2000.com/ Date: 04/30/1999 |
| Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) |
Barr: No Response |
Mccain: In Waukee, Iowa on 6/8/07 McCain said that he would not reduce our nuclear arsenal to 1,000 weapons, but did not say that he would not reduce at all.
Source: www.caucus4priorities.org/scorecard.php Date: 06/08/2007 |