Democratic U.S. Senate hopefuls discuss drones, foreign policy

DES MOINES - The four Democrats competing for an opportunity to run against Sen. Chuck Grassley for a U.S. Senate seat took issue Sunday with the Republican's foreign policy record.

The Democrats also departed occasionally from President Barack Obama's trade deals and drone attacks.

They were participating in a forum sponsored by the 'Stop The Arms Race” PAC and progressive groups.

Former state legislators Tom Fiegen of Clarence and Bob Krause of Fairfield, state Sen. Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids and Albia Democrat Patty Judge - a former state senator, Iowa agriculture secretary and lieutenant governor - spent almost two hours discussing 15 topics ranging from the Middle East, national defense and immigration to the candidates' willingness to go to war.

The Democrats vying for their party's nomination in the June 7 primary took turns criticizing congressional inaction for impeding American progress as a strong world leader and Grassley as an obstructionist. They expressed support for President Obama's negotiated nuclear deal with Iran but opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. The Democrats also condemned torture as a tool of war.

The four called for a clear policy and oversight governing the use of drone strikes against ISIS and enemy targets under the auspices of the Pentagon with no CIA involvement. Krause called for a 'fail-safe” protocol while Judge said drones are a military tool that needs to be used 'very judiciously” to avoid killing innocents.

Fiegen applauded anti-drone protests outside the Iowa Air National Guard base in Des Moines. Those protests decried the use of drone strikes in 'places where we have not declared war,” saying that the United States has escalated their use under former President George W. Bush and now the Obama administration.

'You wonder why there are more terrorists. It's because we use drones to kill people who are innocent victims,” Fiegen told about 100 people at the First Christian Church near the Drake University campus.

'These are going to come back to haunt us,” Fiegen said of an evolving, relatively inexpensive and accessible technology. 'If we believe we can do this” in other countries, 'we give everybody else in the world carte blanche to do the same thing to us. Be prepared. Be prepared, be afraid.”

Hogg voiced similar misgivings, saying the Iowa Legislature passed a measure addressing privacy and safety concerns, and he said he supports military use for information-gathering purposes. Beyond that, he said, the U.S. government should use 'extraordinary caution” in an international arena where drone technology is not going in 'a good direction.”

'This idea that we're using these devices in the way that we're using, I am really concerned about how this is going to come back and really hurt us,” he said.

Krause said he would like to see a comprehensive review of the government's drone program, acknowledging that it's been 'a mixed bag” - targeting terrorist operatives but also killing and injuring civilians. 'It has a negative impact. I don't know if I'm willing yet to say that we need to stop targeting and pinpointing the leadership of ISIS. I can't say that, but I know that there are problems that we have to deal with,” he said.

Judge called it 'absolutely shameful that Congress hasn't declared war on ISIS,” saying it's been more than a year since the president called for action that would let U.S. men and women in Iraq and Syria know they have the backing and commitment of the American people to win the fight.

'Congress has been timid. Sen. Grassley has been timid,” Krause said, for 'walking away” and not enforcing the U.S. Constitution.