6th District hopefuls talk war

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 5, 2008 - Page: 1B

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Candidates for the congressional 6th District on Tuesday night agreed that they would have invested more time on diplomacy and intelligence gathering before entering a war with Afghanistan or Iraq.

The candidates for Congress had spent most of their time at previous forums addressing local issues, such as highway construction.

All the Democratic candidates and one of the three candidates not affiliated with a major party attended the forum at LSU Manship School of Journalism. More than 100 in the standing-room only crowd, watched as the candidates were peppered with questions about issues that would likely vote on, if elected, in the U.S. House of Representatives.

State Rep. Michael Jackson, D-Baton Rouge, said that it is important for national leaders to talk with leaders in other countries, even if they may be enemies of the United States.

“The first lesson that we learned from both wars is that we need to elect the right person to be the president of the United States,” he said.

Andy Kopplin, a Baton Rouge Democrat, said the nation appropriately went after terrorists in Afghanistan but lost focus in Iraq. Troops did not have adequate resources and the government did not have a good plan, he said.

Kopplin said while there is a need for more consideration in some of the president’s decisions, Congress is not taking care of real issues either, concerning themselves with more trivial debates like if baseball star Roger Clemens takes steroids.

“Congress needs to step up to the plate and focus on what matters to the American people,” Kopplin said.

Ashley Casey of Baton Rouge, who is not affiliated with a party, said she would like to see the U.S. leave Iraq but would not put any timelines on the effort.

Casey said over the past 16 years the partisanship in Washington “has just gone out of control.” She said Congress needs to listen rather than trying to convince people on the other side of the aisle to go along.

State Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-New Roads, said the focus now should be releasing control of Iraq to Iraqis.

Cazayoux said there is a need to make sure the executive branch is curtailed.

“Congress is the voice of the people,” Cazayoux said. “We’re the closest to the people.”