Why Is a Republican PA State Rep Calling Iraq and Afghan Vets "Benedict Arnold?"

I served for 15 months in Iraq as a Captain in the Army's 1st Armored Division, and like so many of my fellow Iraq and Afghanistan veterans I returned on a new mission. This mission was, and continues to be, to help raise awareness and educate the American people not only on the wars we are currently fighting, but on the national security challenges our great nation faces. For generations, veterans have done this and they have seen this as a continuation of their service to Constitution and the American people.

Hundreds of us have joined forces with a coalition of nation security organizations to form Operation FREE to raise awareness about the links between climate change and national security. Many are even riding buses across the country to talk to the American people about this issue.

Unfortunately, Republican Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe believes that all of us are "Benedict Arnolds" and "traitor(s) to the oath he or she took [to] defend the Constitution."

In response to an email that invited elected officials in Pennsylvania to meet with veterans on Operation FREE's bus tour, Representative Metcalfe responded with the following:

Subject: Re: Veterans for American Power Bus Tour coming to your state

As a veteran,

I believe that any veteran lending their name, to promote the leftist propaganda of global warming and climate change, in an effort to control more of the wealth created in our economy, through cap and tax type policies, all in the name of national security, is a traitor to the oath he or she took defend the Constitution of our great nation!

Remember Benedict Arnold before giving credibility to a veteran who uses their service as a means to promote a leftist agenda.

Drill Baby Drill!!!

For Liberty,
Daryl Metcalfe
State Representative
Veteran U.S. Army

While I respect Metcalfe's service at Fort Riley Kansas and in Germany as an Air Defense Radar specialist and I.F.F. (identification friend or foe) systems repair specialist during the early 1980's, I think veterans who have fought in the Middle East and Afghanistan have unique perspective on the way our energy posture and climate change affect our national security.

That is what Operation FREE is about, American security. That is why hundreds are joining the fight.

I would like to ask Rep. Metcalfe if he thinks Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn or Republican Senator John Warner are traitors.

When I testified with these two leaders to the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about the threat that climate change poses to our national security were they disavowing their oath to the Constitution?

Several agencies of the United States government and non-partisan think tanks have issued reports or launched investigations on the national security effects of climate change...are they traitors to the Constitution?

• The Pentagon will include a climate section in the Quadrennial Defense Review due in February and the State Department will include climate change in its new Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. New York Times, August 8, 2009

• In 2008, a National Intelligence Assessment from the National Intelligence Council said "global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for US national security interests over the next 20 years." Senate Testimony of Dr. Thomas Fingar, June 28, 2008

• In fall 2009, the CIA announced plans to launch a center on climate change to examine the security risks of environmental issues. CIA Website, September 25, 2009

• In 2007, 11 retired flag officers released a report that argued that "Projected climate change poses a serious threat to America's national security" and "climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world." CNA, National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, 2007

• According to the American Security Project, "Addressing the consequences of changes in the Earth's climate is not simply about saving polar bears or preserving the beauty of mountain glaciers. Climate change is a threat to our national security. Taking it head on is about preserving our way of life." Climate Security Index, 2009

• According to former Senator John Warner (R-VA), a veteran and former Secretary of the Navy, "Leading military, intelligence, and security experts have publicly spoken out that if left unchecked, global warming could increase instability and lead to conflict in already fragile regions of the world. If we ignore these facts, we do so at the peril of our national security and increase the risk to those in uniform who serve our nation." Testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Help us push back on Rep. Metcalfe and learn more about why Iraq and Afghanistan veterans across the country are standing up to raise awareness about the links between climate change and national security.

Enlist today at Operation FREE

Comments

[Bellla]

I'm a veteran too and I know who the traitors are, and it ain't the men and women who faced the heat and fire overseas. It is those who would sell out their consituants for payoffs by the corporatists. Our freedom is threatened, things are soo out of balance that the tipping point can't be far. America is the People, not the corporations. Corporatists have no loyalty to anything but money, they have weakened the nation to the point that we can't do now what we managed in WWII because the industrial base has all gone to where the Corporations feel they can get away with enslaving people and crapping in the waterwell.
Corporate wreckers like Mitt Romney are the real traitors along with the other Blankity Blank Bozo's who crashed the economy with lies, theft and greed. May they all get what is coming to them, the swine.

[MJinCanada]

I would think that doing all one can to prevent catastrophic climate change is thoroughly patriotic -- no matter what country you're from or where you are now.

"The thing about saving the world is that you invariably save the bit that you are standing on." - Terry Pratchett

[Hal Donahue - Huffpost Blogger]

Somehow these reactionary extremists think that they determine just who is and who is not a patriot. Talk about delusional... Good grief, calling the veterans on this bus traitors is disgusting but at least Metcalfe makes it very clear that like most of these extremists they do not and never did support the troops and their families. It is one thing to disagree. It is simply disgusting for an elected official to call America's troops traitors.

[Javani]

Astroturfers is a better word.

[Hal Donahue - Huffpost Blogger]

Northeast of Pittsburgh is where I think his district is located. He is a Toomey (he was too right wing for Santorum) Republican. He is a veteran and I thank him for his service. But now he attacks other veterans' patriotism and literally calls our military and veterans traitors. Clearly he has forgotten the oath he has taken. He clearly is another extreme reactionary who has lost sight of American history and what is really actually written in our constitution . I just laugh at his fear and hate - they hate that more than anything. I would read his e-mail at every stop pointing out his useless fear and rage. We must being doing something right

[Charles London - Huffpost Blogger]

I think events have overtaken Rep. Metcalfe, who appears to be more in touch with big oil lobbyists than with the reality that U.S Troops are facing on the ground, and will continue to face, as "desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts, and heightened competition for natural resources" (to quote the CIA) put more and more of our troops in harm's way, call on our resources to address these crises, and threaten our global national security interests.

To be out of touch is not, of course, a crime. A little information could correct Rep. Metcalfe's outlook.

However, to insult the service of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have chosen to speak out--to call them traitors--is indefensible. Whatever his views on the threat of climate change, he owes you all an apology.

[hardsun2009]

I have worked with, and by with a mean on the other side of, Rep. Metcalfe for the better part of a decade. He is, in my judgment, clinically insane. Last month, he made headlines by being the only PA House member to vote against a resolution recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness because, in his words, it had a "homosexual agenda." He has also, over he years, advocated for kids carrying guns to school to protect them if somebody invades their school.

He is a blight on Pennsylvania. It is almost unfathomable how he continues to get re-elected. If there are any veterans in Butler County, Pennsylvania reading these posts today, please consider running against this fool next year.

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro - Huffpost Blogger]

What towns does this representative serve?