It was easy, relatively speaking, and militarily to take Baghdad.

The hard part was what happened afterward.

After Saddam was gone, securing the safety of the Iraqi people is something that right now still is not done.

So security has always got to be the number one question.

Because if you remove the nukes and you get rid of the regime, what happens then?

We could see something that is even more dangerous,

including, I think, an underreported part of this,

increased threats here at home.

Back to Washington Journal. We're joined now by Paul Reikoff. He is founder and CEO of Independent Veterans of America. Paul, welcome back to the program.

Good morning. Good to be with you, Mimi. So just tell us a little bit about your organization

and your funding.

Well, we are fielding a group of leaders to try to meet this moment of turbulence and crisis in America.

Independent Veterans of America recruits, unites, supports, and elects a new generation of independent veterans for public office,

from U.S. Senate all the way down to school board. This fall, we're shooting to have a hundred

men and women all across this country who are not Democrats, who are not Republicans, but are

unaffiliated and independent, and see this as a time where they need to continue their service,

step up and serve their communities, their states, and their country in political office.

A lot of them are deeply concerned about the direction of this country, but also about the broken political system and the dysfunction of the two parties.

And we think they provide the hope and leadership that this country needs.

We take funding from all across the country, small donations.

A lot of veterans have supported us. We don't have big pack money, billionaire money, or the

funding of the two parties. We think that these folks represent a source of hope and inspiration

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