Today was a special day for myself as well as the rest of the Vets For Freedom members. We started the day off with breakfast on the South Lawn of the White House followed up by a meet and greet with the administration. I personally got to chat with Vice President Cheney for a moment, who incidentally was dramatically less evil than the media makes him out to be, and Condoleezza Rice with whom I discussed the Cleveland Browns win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Then I headed over to the swarm of people around President Bush, but was unable to get closer than five feet away before we had to take off to Capitol Hill.
Overall I left the White House duly impressed with the administration and saw a side of them that doesn`t often make the news: the engaging, quick-witted, and intelligent side that they all possess in great quantity. I have no doubt that if more Americans could see this side, along with the genuine concern for the troops and their families, they would get behind the Bush administration with greater fervor. Of course I also left with a feeling that our democracy was at work seeing that some common folk like ourselves were able to meet and joke with some of the most powerful people in the world.
As I said once we departed the White House we headed straight for Capitol Hill. Our real mission of the day was not to hang out at the White House (although I wouldn`t have minded a longer stay), but rather, to talk with our Congressmen and women in order to share our beliefs and knowledge about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those of you who don`t know Vets For Freedom is a non-partisan, pro-mission group, interested in supporting our elected officials who have our same goals in mind. That goal is to listen to and follow the recommendations of General Petraeus in order to achieve complete victory in Iraq and Afghanistan before we try to "bring `em home". For those officials who do not see eye to eye with us we seek to share our first hand experience as veterans of OIF and OEF in order to help them become better informed about the decisions they need to make. Before you jump to the conclusion that VFF is simply a shill for the Bush administration you should know that we have and will continue to support democrats who are pro-mission as well.
The essential message of VFF that we shared with our officials is that the surge that General Petraeus implemented has begun to and will continue to work. No matter what we did in the past what is going on now is working and we need to see it through to the end. We made sure to explain that we don`t want war and would love to come home just like most people want, but we do not want to do so unless we leave Iraq and Afghanistan victorious with Al Qaeda whipped and the Iraqi people safe enough to take care of their own country.
Once on Capitol Hill myself along with four other guys from my state met with both of our senators and three of our representatives. All officials were cordial and polite to us and gave us the time to share our ideas. Well all but one that is. Not to out him just yet (I`ll do that and more in upcoming posts) but one senator in particular, a republican at that, spoke at us and ended our conversation by handing us a copy of his most recent resolution for a troop withdraw disguised in pro-victory clothing.
While I was in the meeting with the republicrat VFF held a press conference in Upper Senate Park. Several senators attended including Senator Lieberman, and Senator McCain. As I wasn`t there I can`t give you the rest of their names. Also at the press conference was a small but vocal group of Code Pinkers among other front groups for communists. I usually don`t mind these nut-jobs but the audacity they had to protest a bunch of military veterans along with the mothers and fathers of soldiers was beyond me. We aren`t the policy makers, or even a partisan organization, but they were there nonetheless with their usual crap. I even heard several of them got themselves arrested as they started to get physical (just a side note-getting physical around a bunch of pro-victory veterans is a bad, bad idea). However, all of the VFF guys remained calm and at the end of the day I think it was apparent who the better party was.
As the day wound down I chatted with the leadership of the VFF and was impressed with their work ethic, organizational skills, and zeal for their work. I am proud to call myself a member of their ranks and look forward to working with them in the near future. I heard we are some 7000 strong and growing so any politicians out there who are willing to espouse a pro-victory, pro-Petraeus message in Iraq and Afghanistan know that you have the brave and the bold behind you all the way.