BRAC

From the October 2004 edition of the Rapid City Journal:

Finally, we don't believe that Sen. Daschle can use his minority leader position to fix the nonpartisan base closure commission. Ellsworth Air Force Base will remain open or will close based on national defense needs and regardless of who is senator.

One keyword is "nonpartisan."  The BRAC Commission was specifically designed to be insulated from political interference.  In a post-9/11 world there is no need for the scatter of bases across the nation and change must happen; like it or not, war is evolving, and we must follow the flow of that evolution.  Secretary Rumsfeld takes his duties seriously and understands we need an armed force that can respond quickly and effectively, and this is the premise behind BRAC. 

The accusation of political motives determining the closure of bases is foolish.  If that's so, the logic should follow that Republicans and Republican states that took hits really shouldn't have considering we have a Republcian president and Republican Congress.  Plenty of conservative states were hit, just as much as any other state.  It's clear that Daschle, like Thune, could not have done anything to keep the base off the list.  If one must be critical and blame must be administered, one should examine who voted for the creation of this BRAC round and how Ellsworth's mission has steadily dwindled over the past 20 years.  Additionally, the analysis of Ellsworth has been going on for several years and some publications have indicated that Ellsworth was on the list last year (long before our new Senator was sworn in).

To argue that there are political motives at work is foolish and intellectually dishonest.  What we need now is bipartisanship to convince our leaders that this base is still important to national defense; keep petty partisan rhetoric out of this, united together, and let's demonstrate what this base means not just to South Dakota, but to the United States as well.