About 480 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan assembled beginning at 8:30 this morning just across the street from the Senate wing of the Capitol. The temperature was about 45 degrees – global warming had struck. In their sand colored polo shirts, emblazoned across their broad chests with “Vets for Freedom”, they renewed old friendships and established new ones.
There was a blogger or two there, too – most visible was the guy who’s hard to recognize without his cap;
They were joined by some luminaries of the Senate;
(Senator Lieberman slapped me on the back after I took this picture)
And honest-to-goodness war heroes (SSG David Bellavia pictured);
Pete Hegseth started the speechifying;
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SSG Bellavia followed Hegseth;
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Senator McCain addressed the veterans;
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Then it was Senator Lieberman’s turn;
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Each Senator took their turn (Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive asked me “Is there anyone left in the Senate or are they all out here?”) Including the only member of the Senate who actually served as a soldier in Iraq, Lindsey Graham (it’s a good thing Crotchety Old Bastard wasn’t there);
Sam Johnson (R-TX), former POW (thanks to Punditarian for IDing him for me), took his hat off to the vets assembled this morning;
Congressman Zach Wamp quoted John Stuart Mill;
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
Jeff Sessions spoke about victory being imperative in Iraq;
LTC Steve Russell addressed what Americans can do to support the efforts in the war.
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The media actually showed up for this rally, to their credit;
They actually seemed interested in what the veterans had to say (notice Uncle Jimbo doing another interview in the upper right corner of this picture – or maybe he’s doing another Free Fly);
Speeches over, interviews concluded, these veterans set out on one more mission – to tell the Senate how much this war means to America.
These veterans are the polar-opposite of the folks I met at IVAW last month. There was not a selfish bone in the crowd. They fought for their country and their families and now they’re fighting for their friends who can’t speak for themselves. They battled the odds, they battled the uncivilized enemy and now they battle doubt and emotional knee-jerk politicians.
While I was working on this blog post, the stark comparison between the ideological sides was illustrated for me when (on my TV) some Leftist goober jumped up during General Petreaus’ testimony and shouted “Bring them home!” as he was dragged from the room and pink anti-war signs blocked the cameras. Where would those imbeciles be without a war to protest?
And I found a new drinking buddy;
Welcome readers and thank you, bloggers from Blackfive, Gateway Pundit, Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, Civilian Irregular Information Defense Group, 9-11 Families, Infidels Are Cool, Dusseldorf Blog, Buttle’s World and (last, but certainly not least) Baldilocks.
UPDATED for Identifying speakers – I need a secretary, Thus Spake Ortner won’t last forever.
Excellent, thank you!
Wonderful to see this.
Great report.
Great post.
Excellent report.
I can’t view the pictures or videos here at work but I am so glad somebody covered this event. Sure won’t see it on the tv, so as soon as I get home and get on a computer with out all of this web blocking stuff I will be sure to come back and check it out.
There has been an almost total news media black out on the National Heroes Tour, and what little publicity it did get came from them getting kicked out of a HS in MN.
To everybody who could make it to DC to show your support a big Hooah.
Thanks, John
Rurik posts and links his appreciation at http://veteranamerican.info/?p=208
This is an impotant, and historic event, and we are privileged to see it before the MSM distorts it.
The fellow in the black hat looks a lot like Representative Sam Johnson (R-Texas) who spent 7 years as a guest at the Hanoi Hilton.
Jonn, thank you so much … been trying to listen to C-Span here at work but haven’t been able to keep up.
Go VETS!!!
Thank you so much. I would have loved to have been there. Visiting this site lets me feel like I was there.
Wish I could have been there.
Great work, we all need to redouble our efforts to secure victory at home..
A proud American grateful for the opportunity to thank a veteran…even if it’s just in this talk-back. Your service is heads above admirable & a testament to the purposeful life one can chose to actualize. Certain the majority of Americans would openly support you, too, if the Washington politicos would courageously define the true enemy as the imperialist Islamo-fascists bent on attacking our liberties instead of resorting to the amorphous terminology of the war on terror.
Which I could have been there to support my fellow brothers today. My sincerest thanks to all who were there (and kudos to the Senators and Congressman who rolled out to thank them personally — was there a Hillary or Obama sighting?)
Superb! What a wonderful event and group of people!
THANKS so much for covering this for us.
Great report, thanks. BTW the quote’s authour correct name is John Stuart Mill.
Thanks for getting the pictures so quickly. Wish I could have been there. We are so proud of these warriors, who just keep serving.
LET THE MILITARY FINISH THE JOB ! ! !
Great job, And thanks for being there. It’s all GOOD! Hooah!
How appropriate that VFF and General Petraeus/Ambassador Crocker are in DC the same day that PO2 (SEAL) Michael Monsoor receives the Congressional Medal of Honor!
Thanks Uncle Jim for doing this for all of us!
Thanks for covering this “Gathering of Eagles”. This is one old vet who is proud as hell of these American Heroes.
Excellent job! Thank you!
God Bless these veterans and God Bless America.
Rev. Wright, don’t let the door hit on the way out of America. Which country will Rev. Wright relocate to?
“Including the only member of the Senate who actually served as a soldier in Iraq, Lindsey Graham”
It’s just too damn bad that Graham was in Iraq as a JAG officer, defining the rules of engagement rather then as a Platoon Leader or Company Commander of grunts.
Was he in Iraq by chance when Haditha broke in the news?
Thank you for posting this. The MSM seem to be allergic to actual heros.
I no longer like you, and you are worse than hitler, since you posted a picture of me (look above top Jimbo pic) and didn’t even come and say hello.
Thank you!
Oh- And the congressman you missed his name is Zack Wamp of Tn.
“One veteran addressed….”
LTC Steve Russell, BC of the batt that got Saddam.
Jonn – just looking at the pics and listening to the videos brought tears to my eyes and gave me chill bumps. What an incredible turn-out! It just makes me so proud! Thank you so so much for doing this and everything else you have done in support of the troops. I love ya Man!
TSO – which one are you?
Jonn wrote: Robin, TSO is in the picture of the folks on stage, he’s on the far left. But apparently he hates me now. I’ve done the same thing to Michele Malkin and Christopher Hitchens – taken their pictures and not noticed until I got home. I’m cursed with an artist’s focus, I guess.
God Bless you all and thank you not only for your service to this nation in such great honor.
But for what you do in bringing these photos to the light.
I cant tell you how proud i was to sit and view/watch these and GET TO HEAR THE RIGHT SIDE rather than those scumbag COde Pink traitors.
Bless ya! And God Bless AMERICA!
Jonn wrote: Thanks for all of your kind words. That’s why I blog – to bring you the pictures and videos so you can make up your own minds. So far, I’ve more than quadrupled the attendance at the rally by posting these thanks to all of the great bloggers who’ve linked here thinking it was important that ya’all see my work too.
Great job Jonn. Thanks.
Jonn – I did a little compare and contrast using your pics from today’s rally.
A Tale of Two Veterans’ Groups
http://chickenhawkexpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/tale-of-two-veterans-groups.html
Jonn wrote: Great job, Robin. Everyone should take a look at that.
I am jealous – you were in the company of heroes while I was in the company of Mickey Mouse. Thanks for posting the videos and photos, Jonn.
480 ish? Great!! I don’t recall how many showed up for the IVAW group hug last month.
Skye- 125 of the IVAW congregated in the largest gathering of miscreants ever seen. You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany.
That was funny when that dude said you can keep your damn Tiger Woods, We got John McCain! Thank God for our troops and thank God that our troops know who we need to vote for and why.
Irish American and Christian
Another great job! Thanks again, John!
Thanks for such a fine post.
God bless you all! Thanks for covering this!
Nice job posting all the events of today. We’ve been looking for coverage, and found you through Blackfive. We are so proud of our Vets for Freedom, and look forward to seeing what they’ll do next in support of the war and those who fight it.
Bellavia slated to be on my radio program with a round up on Sunday April 20th. Details at my site (http://Radiopatriot.blogspot.com)
Thanks for a great post. Wish we could have been there.
Andrea
The Radio Patriot
Thanks so much for taking the pics and video in order to share the event with us. I’m so sorry that this kind of effort has been necessary, but once again our veterans impress and inspire.
Hopefully the Hill was watching and listening.
I got home from this event just before 2300 EST. I tried to find some coverage of this on the news but saw nothing on CNN, MSNBC, or FOXNEWS. They might have covered some of our rally earlier in the day but nothing was said tonight – of course, the idiot who interrupted GEN Petraeus got covered on all channels.