South Dakota's Dunn, Operation Free Vets Invade Copenhagen

Want climate change legislation done right? Send in the United States military... or at least the veterans representing Operation Free! USD's Volante reports that South Dakota Army National Guard veteran Leighann Dunn is traveling to the big climate conference in Copenhagen to make the case for stronger action on climate change and energy policy. A press release from Repower South Dakota noets that Dunn will be one of a dozen Operation Free veterans in Copenhagen raising awareness of the national security implications of climate change.

Folks interested in finding out more can put on their press hats and attend a press conference in Sioux Falls Monday, 11 a.m., at 335 N. main, Suite 200 (above Evan Photography).

The press release also includes this useful bio of Leighann Dunn:

Leighann Dunn is a 9-year veteran of the S.D. Army National Guard. She served in Iraq in 2003-2004 as a Bridge Engineer and served in Suriname South America as an electrician in 2008. Dunn has a B.S. in Communication Disorders from the University of South Dakota (USD) and is currently working on her Master's degree in Multicatagorical Special Education with an emphasis in Behavior Disorders and Autism. Dunn is the current President of the Veterans Club at USD, South Dakota team Captain of VoteVets and a disabled Veteran. She was recently named one of ten Outstanding Young South Dakotans in 2009. She also was one of three national recipients of a outstanding female veteran scholarship in 2009.

Communication Disorders... hmmm... maybe she can figure out what's wrong with Sibby and Bob Ellis, who seem to suffer a strange form of Tourette's Syndrome: in the middle of every other sentence, they suddenly blurt out paragraphs from WorldNetDaily.

Honor Your Vets, Save the Planet, Pass ACESA

Don't think Veterans Day should be political? Ask a soldier who risked her life in Iraq due to our political choices. LeighAnn Dunn, USD grad student and South Dakota National Guard member, applies the Bush "first-strike" doctrine as justification for passing climate change legislation:

This “first strike” standard also obligates our nation to another standard, which is to take extraordinary steps to prevent wars our leaders can see developing in the future. One threat we clearly see and can prevent is further damage from climate change. The U.S. Department of Defense, the CIA, the State Department and the National Intelligence Council see this threat and are all incorporating man-made climate change as a security threat into their long-term planning. Here are some climate change scenarios our nation’s top military minds are looking at:

Climate change dries up water and creates famine. Nations panic. Wars erupt. American troops get deployed.

Climate change makes sea levels rise, creating tens of millions of refugees. Refugee camps are ripe recruiting grounds for terrorist organizations.

Climate change fuels radical storms to occur more frequently. This stretches military resources from their primary mission: defending America against our enemies [LeighAnn Dunn, "Nation at the Crossroads This Veterans Day," letter to the editor, USD Volante, 2009.11.11].

When treehuggers and GI Jane agree, it's time to act. Support the troops: enact climate change legislation.