Progressive Democrat Issue 109: IRAQ WAR VETS SLAM REPUBLICAN PARTY

Recently I wrote about an Idaho Republican who let his chief of staff insult Iraq War vets who were opposing the war. Well, here's another story about VoteVets.org and it sure seems like they know how to face up to Republican chickenhawks. I suspect we will be hearing more and more of this kind of thing.

This was sent to me by Americans United for Change

Veterans Group Speaks Out on War
Congressional Democrats Let VoteVets.org Talk for Them, Bluntly

By Lyndsey Layton and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 8, 2007; A04

When Iraq war veteran Jon Soltz accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) of "aiding the enemy," the Democratic senators gathered around him yesterday did not wince. Nor did Democrats object when Soltz, the chairman of a group called VoteVets.org, called President Bush and Vice President Cheney "draft dodgers."

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VoteVets.org appears to be the most active group trying to influence the debate about the president's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq...

The veterans are selling a blunt message: The Bush strategy in Iraq is a failure, and adding troops sends more young men and women to their deaths. If you care about the military, they told lawmakers, vote against the troop increase. Legislators who are stalling debate on the matter are "cowards," they said.

This week marked their third pilgrimage to the Capitol. They met privately with the staffs of 11 senators, mostly Republicans. They talked strategy behind closed doors with the Democrats who run the House and then held a media event with those leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who praised them for speaking out...

In several news conferences, Soltz accused McConnell of "aiding the enemy" by allowing the Bush administration to build up troops in Iraq at the expense of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. "We are not fighting the war on terrorism, we are in the middle of a civil war," he said, referring to Iraq. "Meanwhile, the guy who attacked this country on 9/11 is living in a cave in Afghanistan."

Soltz called Cheney a "draft dodger," repeating charges he made last month when he disparaged a "president who frankly knows nothing of war and a vice president who knows even less." He said: "Senators on the fence have a choice. They can stand with veterans like us, or they can stand with the draft dodgers down the road."

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Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who appeared with four veterans yesterday morning, said he saw parallels between VoteVets.org and Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the group of protesters he led during Vietnam. He said he recognized the anger he saw in Soltz. "When you come back from fighting the enemy, you are passionate and feel very strongly about duty," Kerry said. "Each one of these folks has earned the right to express their thoughts. Their words ought to stand for themselves. That's exactly how they feel and people ought to listen to them."

It seems harder and harder for Republicans to claim to be the patriotic party as they continue to focus on a war based on lies with no exit strategy and no obvious benefit to the US while they let Osama bin Laden go free and al-Qaeda continue to gain strength. Remember, it took a Democratic majority in the House to get them to finally pass legislation based on the bipartisan 9/11 committee recommendations. Republicans did nothing for years! Now Democrats are acting and working with Vets to get the message out: Bush and his chickenhawks have failed, the Bush/McCain/Lieberman escalation is stupid, and it is time to end this stupidity.

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