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Miller: Boost military, drill for oil
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June 13th, 2008
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Miller: Boost military, drill for oil
June 13, 2008 - 7:24PM
Andrew Gant
NW Florida Daily News
FORT WALTON BEACH - Drill for oil in the gulf. Don't indulge Guantanamo prisoners. Cut government handouts and beef up the military.
"Most of us are concerned about the same things," U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller said Friday during a stop at Teresa Village, a retirement community for widows of veterans, where he was greeted warmly.
Miller offered an update from Congress and fielded questions from the audience.
Topics included:
- "The biggest fight in Washington" - a $35 billion Air Force contract that Boeing didn't get but a European-U.S. consortium did;
- Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to help wean America from foreign oil and building more oil refineries so speculators will cut per-barrel prices;
- A recent Supreme Court decision to grant federal hearings for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
"I disagree vehemently with it," Miller said of the Gitmo issue, predicting the court system could be inundated with prisoners and that Americans "will one day regret it."
He downplayed critics' complaints about human rights abuses at the prison. He said he has been there and conditions are fine.
"The only thing I saw that looked out of the ordinary was a soccer ball that needed more air," he said.
"These people want to wreck the very thing that makes the U.S. what it is today," he said of war criminals. "They want to be martyrs? OK - they asked."
Miller's lasting theme for the day was military strength. He said the government's sole responsibility has always been to protect its citizens and that military spending pales in comparison to unnecessary social programs.
"There are certain individuals who feel we can do without a military," he said. "I'd like to put them somewhere for about a month and then see how they feel."
Residents at Teresa Village thanked Miller for his work on the new Community-based Outpatient Clinic near Eglin Air Force Base's West Gate, which he said was a long time coming.
Daily News Staff Writer Andrew Gant can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1432.
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