WASHINGTON, 19 September 2006 — Virginia’s US Senate candidates, Republican George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb argued about the Iraq War, the interrogation of terrorists and racial and gender issues during an hour-long debate Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The exchange largely centered on the controversial war that has become the defining issue of the Nov. 7 midterm election.
Allen, a Republican, maintained his unflinching defense of the Iraqi invasion, saying “the world is still a better off” without Saddam Hussein. Allen was asked if he would have supported the war had he known that US intelligence about Iraq’s weapons was flawed. “I stand by my vote,” he said.
Throughout the debate, Webb called the war “an incredible strategic blunder.” A much-decorated Vietnam War veteran and former Secretary of the Navy, Webb noted twice that Allen has never served in the military.
The election was once thought to have been a shoo-in for Allen — up until last month when he made a demeaning reference to young man of Indian descent at a campaign event, calling him “macaca.” Voters expressed concern over Allen’s character, and why he made such an offensive slur. Allen has apologized and said he meant no offense.
But recent polls show that the race has now become very competitive.
To many Virginians, Webb has more going for him than his opponent’s racist faux-pas. He’s a writer, a former Marine and highly decorated Vietnam veteran, and former President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of the Navy. Webb resigned as Navy Secretary in a fight with superiors over budget cuts.
In Vietnam, Webb served as a rifle platoon and company commander, where we was badly injured and awarded the Navy Cross and the Silver Star. His military background serves to highlight the fact that Allen, like the majority of the current Congress, never served in the military.
And the war in Iraq is more than just an academic issue for Webb. His son, Jimmy, 24, is a lance corporal with the Marines, and deployed to Iraq this month. Webb wears his son’s old combat boots on the campaign trail, in tribute to Jimmy and “all the people sent into harm’s way.”
Webb tells audiences that the idea to wear the boots came from his son, who noted that Sen. Allen always wore cowboy boots, even though “there are no cowboys in Virginia.”
“Very few people who have brought us this war have served, and very, very few of the children of these people who have brought us this war have served, said Webb on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.”
The candidates also differed over President Bush’s broad interpretation of the Geneva Conventions and the latitude the United States should take in interrogating suspected terrorists in prison.
Webb supported legislation advanced last week by the Senate Armed Services Committee — in defiance of Bush — that would require US military and civilian interrogators to strictly abide by conventions that bar “outrages upon personal dignity” of prisoners. Allen responded that he hasn’t decided whether to back President Bush’s plan allowing tougher interrogation of prisoners of war.
