Candidates Have A Lot Riding In Iraq

September 19, 12:27 PMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Congress Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

As we wrap up our coverage of the most under reported stories in Iraq, we focus on what is at stake for the candidates in Iraq. Unlike many of the officials who support the war in Iraq, three of the four major Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates have or have kids in Iraq.

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) both have sons that have just been shipped out on their first tour of Iraq while John McCain has one son who returned early this year from a tour in Iraq and another son who will be graduating from the Naval Academy next year.

Here is a look at a typically unseen look at the candidate's kids who are going off to war:

Jack and Jimmy McCain (Courtesy of Scout.Com)

Jimmy McCain: After the McCain campaign spent months trying to keep Jimmy out of the media's eye, newspapers began to report that McCain's son had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq in early 2008.

Jimmy enlisted in the Marines before he had even turned 18 to follow in his father's footsteps. During a tour in Iraq, he spent seven months patrolling Anbar province, formerly Iraq's deadliest area.

It is unlikely that Jimmy or McCain's other son Jack, a senior at the Naval Academy, would be shipped off to Iraq should McCain become President in order to avoid a Prince Harry situation.

Beau Biden (Courtesy of USA Today)

Beau Biden: Unlike Jimmy McCain and Track Palin (see below), Beau Biden is hardly a kid. At 39 years of age, Biden serves as the Attorney General of Delaware and was considered by many to be the heir apparent to daddy Biden's seat.

Instead, Beau will be watching the results of the 2008 election from a satellite hook up in Iraq.

After enlisting in Delaware's Army National Guard and has grown to the rank of a Captain. He is going to Iraq as a military lawyer (JAG).

While he does have combat training and will carry a firearm, unlike McCain and Palin, Biden's duties will be off the field and in the Judge Advocate General's office.

Track Palin (Courtesy of Huffington Post)

Track Palin: He enlisted in the US Army on September 11, 2007, the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A year later, 19-year-old Track is being shipped off to one of Iraq's deadliest areas.

Palin will serve as a "dismount", meaning his duty will be to provide protection for the brigade commanders as they move throughout the country.

According to news sources, Palin will serve his tour in Diyala, one of Iraq's most dangerous provinces. According to MSNBC, the area averages more than 3.5 attacks each day.

While it has become the norm for people to call out elected officials for not having their own kids in Iraq while making decisions that impact the war, these three candidates and other Congressmen and Senators do, in fact, have quite a lot riding in this war.

Senators like Jim Webb (D-VA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Congressmen like Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) have sons serving in the military.

Most of them fight a daily battle to keep their kids' names and photos out of the media (Tim Johnson) while others promote their kids' service (Palin, Hunter). Either way, John McCain will be the first to tell you that when your akin to someone important, you have a huge target on your back.

Final Note: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are far from over yet coverage and public interest in the two has dwindled. No matter what your opinion may be on these wars, hundreds of thousands of troops are in the Middle East right now fighting at the behest of the President. The least we can do is acknowledge that we care every now and again.