Wenstrup addresses issues, concerns over coffee at the Y Restaurant

An early morning crowd of more than two dozen Second District residents met with Congressman Brad Wenstrup Tuesday, Aug. 27 at the Y Restaurant near Mowrystown.

Wenstrup discussed several issues of local and national concern, including the growing unrest in Syria, the Benghazi investigation, the Affordable Health Care Act, national security and other matters during an hourlong "coffee with your congressman" session.

Speaking of the challenges in Congress, Wenstrup said: "The issues change from day to day; and at the same time, you're spending time on stuff that's not in the news. A month ago, maybe we're talking a little about Syria. Today, we're really talking about Syria."

Congress and the Obama administration currently are weighing the possible responses to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Wenstrup said the U.S. should define its mission, what it hopes to accomplish, how it will be accomplished and how we would end our potential involvement.

"In Syria, what do we hope to accomplish?" Wenstrup asked. "Personally, I don't want 'boots on the ground.'"

Wenstrup said he supports humanitarian aid for the Syrian refugees – estimated at more than half a million – living in Jordan.

He also said if chemical weapons fall into the possession of Al Qaeda, "a case can be made to do something in Syria. They (Al Qaeda) want to kill us.

"I don't think Assad would use chemical weapons against us, but Al Qaeda would."

"We still don't know what we're trying to accomplish in Syria," the congressman said. "The president has said there's a 'red line.' What does that mean?"

On Aug. 20, 2012, President Obama said: "We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

Wenstrup also was asked, "Who gave the stand down order in Benghazi?," a reference to the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks against U.S. diplomatic offices in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans – Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods – all dead.

Wenstrup, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he could state that the congressional investigation is ongoing, but those committee meetings are classified.

"(Like Watergate) it takes a couple of years to peel the onion back," he said. "Benghazi is not going away. We have to see an 'after-action review' and see what took place.

"I am a military person and I want to know if there was anybody in the military advising the president. … If you can't tell the difference between a 'demonstration' and an orchestrated attack, that concerns me."

Highland County TEA Party President Barb Cole asked the congressman his views on reports of contamination from Depleted Uranium (DU) which may be causing an increase in birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses throughout much of Iraq.

Cole cited Major Doug Rokke, who has a PhD in health physics and is a forensic scientist.

"I spent a year in Iraq. I'm not aware of it," Wenstrup said.

In an interview earlier this year with Yes! Magazine (www.yesmagazine.org), Dr. Rokke said: "It's not just children in Iraq. It's children born to soldiers after they came back home. The military admitted that they were finding uranium excreted in the semen of the soldiers. If you've got uranium in the semen, the genetics are messed up.

"So when the children were conceived, the alpha particles cause such tremendous cell damage and genetics damage that everything goes bad. Studies have found that male soldiers who served in the Gulf War were almost twice as likely to have a child with a birth defect and female soldiers almost three times as likely."

Wenstrup asked Cole to send him information on the Depleted Uranium reports.

On the Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, Wenstrup said, "The majority of the American people are not happy with ObamaCare and neither is the president. He's changing (his mind). After he signed the bill, now he's changing it."

When asked if the House would reject funding for ObamaCare, Wenstrup replied: "If the House says 'we defund it' – which I'm in favor of, one way or another – it just sits on the Senate floor. If it sits there and the government shuts down, the president will blame Republicans."

Wenstrup also said that Obama is much better at framing his issues and using mass media to promote his causes.

The congressman pointed out that Obama still spends a "tremendous amount of money" on media exposure.

"You hear that and you wonder, is he running for office again?"

Wenstrup offered a few words about the economy, noting that "A lot of people are out of work because of (Washington) policies. Look at the potential if we open up the Keystone Pipeline, fracking development. There's no greater social reform than people working."

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Rep. Brad Wenstrup was elected in 2012 to represent the people of Ohio’s Second Congressional District, which includes Highland County, in the U.S. House of Representatives. He brings experience as a doctor, Army Reserve officer, Iraq War veteran, and small business owner. In the 113th Congress, Rep. Wenstrup serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.