So, last night I heard that my Representative Brian Baird was going to be in Vancouver doing a town hall meeting over his change in his stance in the Iraq war. He was now supporting it and was facing his critics. Should be fun and I'll get to see some fireworks, I thought.
Well there was and more. First off, I arrived at Fort Vancouver High School's auditorium with about 500 other people around 7pm and sat there for a while and listened to what he had to say.
Let me tell you something, he's about the only Democrat in the whole of Congress I have respect for. He told everyone about his conceptions of what to expect when he went to Iraq twice (at his own personal expense) and that he came back with an overwhelming feeling of things were improving from our soldiers, regional leaders and Iraqi civilians.
He also saw the carnage that can happen in Iraq and came to the same conclusion that I did a while ago: If we leave these people, they will be slaughtered, a theocracy will be set up, and we will eventually have to go back and destroy the militants all over again. He said he was 95% certain of that.
But while he's talking, I see a man who's over dressed for the occasion. He's wearing a suit and tie, hair combed nicely, he just didn't fit in. I couldn't see his face, but I thought he was with the security detail. Then he started to talk. I didn't catch his name at first, but he sounded REALLY familiar. Then I heard Brian Baird say "I appreciate your opinion Mr. Soltz".
"MOTHERFUCKER!", I thought, "it CAN'T be JON SOLTZ" can it? Sure enough, I caught a glimpse of his face. Sure enough it was him. The same Jon Soltz who berated a soldier who was saying that the surge in Iraq was working at Yearly Kos for "talking about politics in my uniform". I wrote about it earlier.
So, I decided that I'd corner Jon about his little bit of hypocrisy and see what he had to say. After he was done berating Brian Baird (not rudely mind you), he was shaking hands, and waiting for the press to get ready to interview him. I was standing behind him when the press were just gathering around him. About 5 or so reporters were writing things down when I asked him these questions:
"Mr. Soltz, first off, I'd like to thank you for your service to our country". I shook his hand because I was sincere in that regard. Anyone who picks up a weapon and defends my country, I have an immediate respect for, regardless of their political viewpoint.
Travis:
"Mr. Soltz, you berated a soldier at Yearly Kos for wearing a uniform while talking about politics"
Jon:
"I acted like an asshole to that soldier. I should have handled it better."
Travis: "But Mr. Soltz, don't you think it's a tad hypocritical that you berated this man who wasn't talking about politics, only about the successes he's seen in Iraq after the surge, when you have a political website and there's a picture of you in uniform?"
Jon:
Who was taken aback mind you.
"Well......I have the right to use that photo in any way I want..." and he trailed off for a second.
All the while, reporters are writing furiously. I don't know if they were writing about what we were talking about, but they were writing as fast as they could.
Travis:
"Well Mr. Soltz, if you do have that right, which I'm not contesting, don't you think it makes you look like a hypocritical jerk if you're going to berate someone for something and then turn around and appear to do the exact same thing"?
Jon:
"Thank you for your time, I have to go talk to these people now".
I didn't push the issue as there were a lot of people around and I still didn't get to ask my questions to Brian Baird and I didn't want to be asked to leave. But I think I got my point across.
So I listened to what Rep. Baird had to say. He gave example after example along with facts to back up his opinion, but most of the crowd wasn't having any of it.
What I really was disgusted with was the manners of everyone in the audience. Regardless of your stance on issues, people would shout out their opinions without waiting for anyone else to finish what they were saying.
Some people brought up the fact that we don't go into other countries that need our help, so I thought I'd stick up for Mr. Baird and said "We went into Liberia when no one else would. How many other nations are in Liberia?"
That shut the guy up pretty quickly. What I also noticed was the complete lack of homework done by the anti-war crowd. They had no clue about the region, how it works, or even who the major players were.
Several people asked why surrounding countries like Iran, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia weren't helping, I knew I was in for a treat. Mr. Baird said point blank: "you don't want the Iranian or Syrian's help" Jordan and other allies in the region aren't going to help because their view point is "we didn't have these problems before the invasion".
Mr. Baird seemed to have a good grasp on things and really had done his homework on the issue. I must say I was very impressed by a Democrat, which as you all know, doesn't happen often.
So then one person asked why can't we just leave the mess as is. The guy who asked it was obviously a college student who had ZERO responsibilities in his life. Mr. Baird asked him if he broke something would he replace it or fix it? The guy was speechless.
Then there was the run on guys. There were dozens of people standing there waiting to ask their questions, and some people would just drone on and on about various things that were "wrong" in their head but they never actually asked a question or made a statement. It pissed off a lot of people. There were cat calls of "get to the point"!
Well around 11:00 last night, I finally got to my turn to ask my questions. However, they were going to call it a night so I only got 1 minute to say my piece.
I gave Mr. Baird a disclaimer: "I must warn you, I'm a Republican". His head bowed a little bit waiting for the next attack to come. "However, I voted for you twice". He said "Thank you". I told him "You're the best man for the job when I voted for you, and you're the best man for the job now". His ears perked up.
I asked Mr. Baird about the Iranian threat because of the sniper rifle situation where they bought expensive sniper rifles to fight "drug dealers" only to have hundreds of them end up in insurgents hands within 6 weeks of delivery. I wrote about it here earlier. As soon as I mentioned the Iranian sniper rifles being delivered to insurgents and that it was confirmed by the weapon's manufacturer, his ears and whole demeanor perked right up.
He pointed at me and agreed whole heartedly. I got a few people who said I was lying or worse, but Mr. Baird came to my defense: "what he is saying is 100% true, that was a recently declassified document. I'm glad you did your homework". I looked around at the people who said I was lying and said: "Apparently you didn't do yours". I got sneered at.
His answer wasn't as clear as I would have liked. He said that we are isolating and undermining the Iranian government with sanctions and "other methods". He said that the Iranian threat was real and that to underestimate them or to "go it alone" would be a mistake that we would all pay for.
But the best part was when a man behind me said "Don't bomb Iran". So, I had enough at this point and turned to him and said: "Ok genius, if you're so smart, with the Iranians supporting a very large portion of the insurgency in Iraq, how would you combat it". I made sure to make my comments loud enough for the auditorium to hear. He didn't have an answer. I asked him "Well if we're not bombing Iran, what should we do. Don't chastise Mr. Baird if you don't have a solution yourself. Just saying "Don't bomb Iran" isn't good enough if you don't have an alternative, so let's hear it. We're waiting". He again was speechless.
After 11:30, it was time to wrap things up. Being that I actually have ideas for the Representative, I stuck around and spoke with him face to face. I told him that the biggest complaint right now is the lack of electricity. Most Iraqis are without electricity and have to use generators. Using generators means that you can't power all of the stuff you want to do when you're at home, so you have to pick and choose. That usually means the air conditioner and a few appliances at most. I told him to get electricity up and running as quickly as possible and the insurgency will go down.
Think about that for a moment. If you're in 120 degree heat all day, every day, you tend to get angry and snap at the smallest things. If you have electricity and are sitting in a 70 degree room when it's 120 outside, then you feel much better. Besides, when you go from 70-120 degrees, you tend to want to stay inside as much as possible.
I thanked the Representative for his time, told him thanks for taking a beating, thanked him for truly researching the topic and coming to his own conclusions, even though it meant that he would be taking the road he thought was right instead of what was popular. That to me is what leadership is about. It means that you follow in your own heart what you think is right and what is in the best interests of the people. No one, with the exception of Jon Soltz even began to know what they were talking about, let alone actually have been in Iraq to understand the complexities of the region.
With General Petraeus's report coming from the White House (which Baird said was a mistake), he said he agrees with General Petraeus in that we should start bringing our guys home in around the springtime if current levels of Iraqi progress holds.
Mr. Baird also suggested that we have another town hall meeting in April to discuss any successes or failures. He mentioned that his general thoughts are, sustain the current levels until April, then gradually bring troops home as the Iraqis start to fend for themselves. They are already starting to show signs of standing on their own two feet, so why yank the rug out from underneath them when they are still in training wheels?
He also mentioned that there will be car bombs that go off and occasional assassinations, but it will go down. And I believe him.
Travis
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