The famous line of George Orwell seems to be the true of Representative Luján when it comes to his rhetoric and conflicting voting record on the issue of foreign military adventure. On September 25, 2009, Luján joined 57 other members of Congress in signing a letter to President Obama, urging him to reject any request for more troops in Afghanistan. One thing the letter did not do is request that the President reduce or remove any of the existing troops that are already deployed. While the letter, in and of itself, is commendable; the message conflicts with Luján’s voting record on the issue. Luján has voted in favor of both HR 2346 which was a supplemental appropriations bill including funding of both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also voted on October 6, 2009 (after the letter to President Obama was sent) in favor of HR 3326 the “Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010″ which includes funding for the wars as well. Luján recently voted in favor of HR 2410, which according to Title II, Section 203 of that bill,
Obligates FY2010-FY2013 funding for Pakistan for the foreign military financing program, including a set-aside for purchase of defense articles, defense services, and counterinsurgency and counterterrorism education and training.
among other things. As if we’re not meddling in the foreign affairs of enough Nations already, we should use American taxpayer dollars to ratchet up the militarization of a nuclear weapon toting Pakistan. These are not the votes of a peace candidate, unless in fact it’s 1984.
So, it looks like Lujan was just pandering and grandstanding with the letter. Typical politician; Says one thing while voting for the opposite, trying to pull the wool over his constituents eyes. (grrrr…)
We once trained Osama bin Laden and looked what happened. Now we are funding Pakistan? People like Lujan will never learn.