VoteVets.org Ad

WASHINGTON · When Iraq war veteran Jon Soltz accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of “aiding the enemy,” the Democratic senators gathered around him last week 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.”

In the U.S. Congress, where decorum usually holds sway, Soltz and his small band of veterans are saying things many Democrats would like to express but can’t. And as the politics heat up over the Iraq war, Democratic leaders increasingly are being drawn to Soltz and his angry soldiers.

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. Last month, it dispatched veterans to the home states of Republican senators waffling over resolutions on the war. Next, it ran a stark TV ad during Super Bowl XLI last Sunday that drew national attention. Then last week, group members crisscrossed Capitol Hill, trying to persuade lawmakers and their staffs to oppose the troop increase.

Their efforts are supported by a coalition of liberal groups that blocked the president’s 2005 plan to privatize Social Security. But this new campaign could prove more difficult.

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 “surge.” Legislators who are stalling debate on the matter are cowards, they said.

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