UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Time: 10:15 A.M.
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Building
Presiding: Senator Kerry
As Jon Soltz, of VoteVets and VetVoice, writes here, John Kerry's Veteran Legacy
Thirty-eight years ago today, a young veteran was invited to testify before a committee of Senators and silenced the talkative politicians by speaking about the human costs of war. He did so on behalf of thousands of compatriots who could not be there. He spoke with the power of one who had seen war up close. The Senators listened intently, for some of them had never worn the uniform of the soldier and none had served in the jungles of Vietnam.
Today, that young veteran is himself not only a distinguished Senator but also chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the very same committee he had addressed in 1971. And tomorrow, at a hearing before his committee, Senator John Kerry will be giving a new generation of young veterans a chance to share their views of war, specifically, the war in Afghanistan.>>>>>More
If online tune in at the Senate Committee Link above and watch/listen to the hearing.
Senator's panel to call Afghanistan veterans
No counterparts to the young Kerry at war hearing
Thirty-eight years ago today, a soldier fresh from Vietnam riveted the nation by recounting the horrors of a far-away war, famously asking the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
The speech by 27-year-old John Kerry launched his rise from antiwar protester to presidential nominee to chairman of that very same powerful committee.
Tomorrow Senator Kerry will listen as veterans of the war in Afghanistan shine a spotlight on a conflict that a small but growing number of Americans are beginning to question, even as President Obama increases troops. But in a sign of how much Kerry - and the country - has changed since 1971, tomorrow's hearings will feature few - if any - dramatic calls for withdrawal.
Kerry's committee did not invite any witness from the Iraq Veterans Against the War, the modern-day analog of the antiwar group he represented when he testified in 1971. That group, which includes Afghanistan war veterans, has called for an end to the Afghan war. At least three out of the four Afghan war veterans who will testify tomorrow oppose a US withdrawal. >>>>>More
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