NYTimes article on Iraq War Vets and opposition to the escalation (And Jon Powers!)

[TayTay]

Hey Sen Kerry, what did you guys discuss anyway at that meeting last week, veteran to veteran , war protester to war protester?


It mentions Jon Powers :loveya:

Groups Head to Capital to Step Up Antiwar Drive
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/washington/26left.html?hp&ex=1169874000&en=e4fdb7cc0284b4c2&ei=5094&partner=homepage

By JEFF ZELENY and CARL HULSE
Published: January 26, 2007

SNIP

Next week, the group intends to fly Iraq veterans to the home states of Republican senators who serve on the Foreign Relations Committee and voted Wednesday against the resolution condemning the administration plan, including Senators Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John E. Sununu of New Hampshire. Television advertisements are scheduled to be shown in some of the same states in an effort to apply pressure before the Senate vote on the resolution in early February.

“The face of antiwar is not what it was in the ’70s,” said Jon Soltz, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who is the chairman of a group called VoteVets.

If members of Congress are slowly finding their voice opposing the administration’s Iraq plan, aides to lawmakers say, it is in no small part because of the face-to-face lobbying campaign that is a central piece of the strategy employed by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. The group plans to spend up to $9 million, said its spokesman, Brad Woodhouse, which they expect to raise through Internet solicitations and individual donations.

Mr. Soltz and nearly a dozen other veterans have been walking the halls of Congress, and they have had no problems getting appointments. One day last week, they held back-to-back meetings with Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, Democrats who are running for president in 2008.

“This battle to oppose the escalation is as important as the original battle in Iraq,” said Jonathan Powers, :loveya: who spent 14 months serving in Iraq as a captain with the First Armored Division. He laced up his beige combat boots and put on a blue suit as he went to Congress on a recent day of lobbying.

Note: Ahm, the NYTimes story did not originally hae a floaty heart in it for Jon Powers. Editorial decision on my part.

[ProSense]

1. Very cool!

They're gaining significant momemtum and they're well funded.