James Pinkerton@Huffpo: Walter Jones Meets Rudyard Kipling

[Greeby]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-pinkerton/walter-jones-meets-rudyar_b_39022.html

"If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied."

Those bitter words do not come from some folk-singing anti-war protestor. They come from a conservative Englishman, Rudyard Kipling, in his collection, "Epitaphs of the Great War." And those same words were heard today on Capitol Hill from Rep. Walter Jones, a conservative Republican of North Carolina.

When he spoke, Jones was thinking about the Iraq war--but he was also looking ahead to a possible war with Iran.

The Congressman from the Third District of North Carolina is a remarkable figure. In almost all respects, he is an orthodox Southern Republican; his lifetime vote-rating from the American Conservative Union, over his seven terms in Congress, is 93 out of a possible 100. And so it was no surprise that Jones was one of 296 Members of the House to vote in favor of the Iraq war resolution on October 10, 2002.

But three years ago, Jones had his own moment of epiphany. At the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq, leaving behind a widow and three young children, Jones concluded that he had made a mistake in voting to authorize the war. Moreover, he concluded that he had been lied to by the Bush Administration. And he said so--frequently, publicly, loudly. The White House and the Republican Party establishment were not pleased, but since his Damascene conversion, Jones has been re-elected twice, by wide margins. -snip-

[Straight Shooter]

1. Walter Jones writes personal letters to every family of a soldier killed, from his district.

He was a deluded fool, that's for sure, Mr. Freedom Fries, but he's seen the light and is doing his best to make amends. He has always written personal letters, though, and visited the wounded, just like Rep. Murtha.

Unfortunately Jones is waging a battle against the high command of the Lord of Darkness himself, Darth Cheney. Good luck, Walter Jones.