Janice Schakowsky: “Well, Rush Limbaugh is at it again. Unable to defend an indefensible war in Iraq, he has once again resorted to…”

“Well, Rush Limbaugh is at it again. Unable to defend an indefensible war in Iraq, he has once again resorted to ``sliming'' the messenger. In this case, unbelievably, the messengers he's going after are the brave men and women who have served their country in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other wars. Men and women who serve in Iraq differ from Rush Limbaugh in two critical ways. First, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, they actually served in the military. Second, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, they understand that the war in Iraq is making our country less safe and destroying the military. How dare Rush Limbaugh label anyone who has served in the military as a ``phony soldier.'' How dare he say that his views in Iraq, formed in the comfort of his radio studio, are legitimate, while the views of those whose opinions were forged on the battlefield are not. Could Rush Limbaugh actually face soldiers who have risked their lives and tell them that their beliefs don't matter? These are soldiers like Brandon Friedman, a former rifle platoon leader in the Army's 101st Airborne Division who fought in Afghanistan in 2002 and commanded troops in Iraq. He says, ``The escalation of the war is failing and now the mission must change. The fact is,'' he says, ``the Iraq war has kept us from devoting assets we need to fight terrorists worldwide, as evidenced by the fact that Osama bin Laden is still on the loose and al Qaeda has been able to rebuild.”