Many of the most outspoken critics of PResident Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq have been the majority of the West Virginia caucus. (The lone exception has been Republican Rubberstamp Shelley Moore Capito, who keeps tying herself tighter to the war.)
Rep. Nick Rahall is a very strong advocate for peace and diplomacy.
Reporter Paul J. Nyden of the Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail has a story on Rahall (D, WV-03), meeting with peace activists veterans and other citizens at a Charleston church.
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., was the main speaker in the Christ Church United Methodist forum moderated by the Rev. William Boyd Grove, former bishop of the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Opening the program, Grove expressed sorrow for the deaths of students and professors at Virginia Tech on Monday.
“I hope we are equally saddened by the number of people in our own military who are lost every week, as well as the citizens of Iraq,” Grove said.
A good reminder from the reverend.
Rahall discussed his trip with Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Syria and other countries in the region.
“Communications and conversation do not mean capitulation,” Rahall said. “As Thomas Jefferson said, `Every difference of opinion does not mean disagreement in principle.’ ”
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., sent a letter thanking the groups that hosted Saturday’s meeting.
Recently passed Senate legislation setting a date for U.S. troop withdrawal, Byrd wrote, “makes clear that U.S. soldiers should not be policing a civil war and that the conflict in Iraq requires a political, and not a military, solution.”
Rahall also discussed his concerns on how the war is being outsourced to private contractors.
Rahall also said he was worried by the increase in the use of private military contactors during the Bush administration.
“We are using hired guns,” he said. “When they wake up every morning, their first question is, `Who can I kill today?’ We are paying private mercenaries who are in the killing business.
“When these individuals come back home, they will have to become reacclimated to society,” Rahall said.
Rahall also pointed out a statement by Pennsylvania’s Rep. Jack Murtha (D) that is a good reminder of whose lives are at stake when Bush and Cheney claim “we” are fighting a war.
Murtha noted that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are wrong to say routinely that “We are fighting in Iraq,” Rahall said.
“It is the troops.” Rahall said.
Saturday’s gathering was sponsored by a coalition including the West Virginia Council of Churches, West Virginia Citizen Action Group, West Virginia Patriots for Peace, West Virginia AFL-CIO and American Friends Service Committee.
Our own el cabrero has an excellent report on the event.