Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) Had His Epiphany Today: Bushco Are War Criminals!

[leftchick]

I just finished watching the special hearing on pre-war intelligence and how it was twisted, cherry picked, reamed, steamed and dry cleaned into the neocon wet dream of an Iraq War. The most amazing aspect of it for me was watching Rep. Jones who looked like he wanted to weep through the whole thing.

Jones is Rep. Freedom Fries for those not familiar yet he has made a complete turn around on Iraq. He REGRETS his Iraq war vote (Hear that Hil??). He visits the wounded at Walter Reed regularly and he personally writes letters to families of the dead and wounded.

I live in NC and have always disliked Rep. Jones mostly because he is a repuke. I have to say after watching him today I really admire his ability to admit he was wrong. The neocons and their influence truly freak him out! He found out today that Dick Cheney is the leading Neo Con and he is in charge!

His questions to Joseph Cirincione and the sadness were palpable. He actually asked if someone could be charged with a crime over this! I have to say, seeing a repuke see the light on national TV is.... breath taking!

Mother Jones wrote a pretty good article about his turn around a few months ago...

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/01/the_three_conversions_of_walter_b_jones.html

UNTIL THE CONGRESSMAN from North Carolina spoke, the hearings were proceeding routinely. The Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives was convened on April 6 in a stately room in the Rayburn office building to consider the progress of the war in Iraq; much of the testimony was barely more animated than the paintings of deceased legislators adorning the walls. Richard Perle, a former Pentagon adviser and one of the war's principal architects, had taken the witness chair. He was serene and unflappable as he answered questions about the Pentagon budget, oil prices, and the training of Iraqi troops.

Then the chairman called on Rep. Walter B. Jones. Glaring at the witness, Jones quoted a statement from Perle's testimony suggesting that the administration had been misled in its assessment of Iraq by "double agents planted by the regime." The congressman's voice quavered as he demanded an apology to the country. "It is just amazing to me how we as a Congress were told we had to remove this man, but the reason we were given was not accurate."

"I went to a Marine's funeral that left a wife and three children, twins he never saw," Jones said, his voice cracking as his eyes began to water. "And I'll tell you—I apologize, Mr. Chairman, but I am just incensed at this statement." He continued, "When you make a decision as a member of Congress and you know that decision is going to lead to the death of American boys and girls, some of us take that pretty seriously, and it's very heavy on our hearts."

[Stand and Fight]

1. Recommended...

I surely hope the hearing replays tonight. I feel that today we reached a historical moment, and I would hate to not be privy to it because I was confined in some dammed office cubicle. Thanks for posting this, leftchick.

[roguevalley]

3. he is truly sorry and trying to repent with his actions.

[coalition_unwilling]

5. Think he'll become this generation's Ramsey Clark? Stranger

things have happened, I suppose.

[w4rma]

6. He should stop voting for the Republican majoirty leader, then.

If he really is repentant then he should stop enabling them.

[madokie]

2. I was touched by his outcry for justice his forthcoming of being wrong

in the lead up and the anguish it has caused him. He's a good Man.

[Supersedeas]

43. and WHERE is the Network Media--an outcry that Cable doesn't register, is

it an outcry at all???????

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I wonder if he regrets his party switch yet. nt

[leftchick]

8. I really got that impression

when he was making his comments and thanks to the Democratic senators for inviting him I truly sensed it.

[gratuitous]

7. "Some of us take that pretty seriously"

That, in and of itself, recommends Mr. Jones to my attention. I've felt all along that for a big majority of elected officials and their hacks, cronies and courtiers that going to war was a dawdle, a way to score political points, and rack up a few more votes. The seriousness and the gravity of the enterprise just didn't figure into the calculus. People die every day, a few more people will die because of this decision, but what's the big schmeal?

I'm glad to see that at least one person who voted in favor of the invasion of Iraq understands the serious impact it has had on real people. I'm always glad to see someone resolve to do better.

[tnlefty]

9. Isn't this Mr. "Freedom Fries" Jones?

Just makes me want to cry that he sees it now.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

44. Yes. His father was a long time Democratic congressman

His father, Walter B. Jones, represented this part of eastern NC. Being named Walter B. Jones, Jr., he had instant name recognitions and he was chosen by the pukes to take back the NC third district after redistricting prior to 1994. This was after Eva Clayton got the nomination for the "minority majority" first district, IIRC. He had been a democratic member of the NC legislature prior to this.

Walter is not the sharpest tack in the bag. It is very possible, I'd even say likely, that he was duped by Cheney, et al.

I'm glad he's showing contrition, but if he's really unhappy, he should become an independent and caucus with the democrats.

[calimary]

10. Wow - stunning! I'm sorry I missed it.

Thanks for posting this! I hope he keeps seeing the light the next time he has to put his vote where his mouth is. And frankly, I hope he suffers a lot of sleepless nights over having rubber-stamped this war. Those who did have all that blood on THEIR hands. ANYONE who supported this war, when the truth was available (hell, enough of US in the anti-war community saw this) has all that blood on THEIR hands. It's not just bush and the PNAC. It's also everyone who enabled them. In fact, in some respects, they are MORE to blame than even bush and the PNAC are. Because everyone was in a position to stop this, instead of allowing themselves to be intimidated and steamrolled. Again, if those of us out here in non-Washington-Insiderland could see and understand the truth, they CERTAINLY could have. I found all my info on the internet, in places like DU. And I'm a complete amateur. And if I could find this stuff out, SURELY they could have.

[Jacobin]

11. Useful to mitigate his sentence after the War Crims Trial

Reminds me of death row inmates asking for forgiveness and a commutation of their sentences before they are led into the gas chamber.

As a judge, I'd commute his sentence to life rather than hanging at a War Crimes Tribunal.

[leftchick]

12. I really think he is naive

if that is a defense. I was just shocked listening to him being shocked that his bush LIED to him. He could not figure out how the neocons got so much control. Joseph Cirincione explained it quite well for him.

I believe he is truly suffering for his vote. he does see the result of it every time he goes to Walter Reed and when he attends the funerals. He now KNOWS they all suffered and died for the LIES of a few.

But yeah, it is a fucking war and he should have known and I would go for life too!

[quiet.american]

13. I'll give credit where credit is due.

I thought the guy was a feckin' idiot when he came up with "freedom fries," but if he can change his mind, so can I. This man is not the run-of-the-mill blowhard, cowardly congressional Republican sociopath. I'm impressed that he does what none of the above cares about doing:

Attends the funerals of the fallen
Personally writes to the families
Visits the wounded
Ponders the suffering this criminal invasion has caused
Gets angry about the lies
Faces the music in town halls with un-screened audiences
Listened to his daughter's suggestion and spent hours listening to " 'James Bamford's A Pretext for War,' a scathing indictment of the Bush administration's abuse of prewar intelligence," then invited the author to dinner with a dozen other congresspeople
Has the humility to very publicly admit he was wrong, and the conscience to feel regret over it

Never thought I would get past thinking this guy was a feckin' idiot, but have to give credit where credit is due.

[Bretttido]

14. Agreed, he deserves credit. Hopefully more republicans...

come to his realization and create a rift in the republican party. And at the same time: HOPEFULLY, democrats can unite in their stance of withdrawing troops from Iraq.

[Clark2008]

15. Oh no. Walter had his epiphany about a year and a half to

two years ago when he apologized for the Freedom Fries crap.

Walter has been on our side regarding the war for some time now. Too bad he's still anti-choice and anti-gay unions (not to mention anti-gay marriage).

He's a decent enough guy, though. Not a freeper or a nut - just an old-fashioned conservative.

Edited to add:

Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol Hill restaurants, told a local newspaper the US went to war "with no justification".

Mr Jones, who in March 2003 circulated a letter demanding that the three cafeterias in the House of Representatives' office buildings ban the word french from menus, said it was meant as a "light-hearted gesture".

But the name change, still in force, made headlines around the world, both for what it said about US-French relations and its pettiness.

Now Mr Jones appears to agree. Asked by a reporter for the North Carolina News and Observer about the name-change campaign - an idea Mr Jones said at the time came to him by a combination of God's hand and a constituent's request - he replied: "I wish it had never happened."

Although he voted for the war, he has since become one of its most vociferous opponents on Capitol Hill, where the hallway outside his office is lined with photographs of the "faces of the fallen".

"If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong," he told the newspaper. "Congress must be told the truth."

This was in the Guardian in May 2005: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1491567,00.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. sense is breaking through their deliberate fog? wonderful news

If only more people had epiphanies over Iraq and other Bushista policies.

[dsc]

22. He is anti gay everything

He decried the Lawerence decision too.

[leftchick]

23. He is an extremely conservative Roman Catholic

and as a Liberal Catholic myself that has always pissed me off. Apparently he has not studied a whole lot of the new Testament and Jesus actual teachings. The anti-gay shit along with some other non-tolerance issues bothers me greatly. I hope perhaps todays epiphany will open his mind just a crack to his own hypocrisy.

[dsc]

25. He is actually my Congressman

and I, of course, won't be voting for him. I do appreciate his change on the war but his virulently anti gay rhetoric is totally unacceptable to me.

[leftchick]

26. I would not vote for him either!

Tell me how his change is going over in your part of the state. I can't imagine the Camp LeJune folks are very happy with it.

[dsc]

27. He easily beat his primary challenger and there is as much

chance of Limbaugh climbing Mt Everest as there is of him losing in the general election. I actually live on the northern edge of his district and thus about 90 miles from the military part of the district but I think they still respect him.

[More Than A Feeling]

46. He is a nut. He's the guy who offered a bill to allow pastors to endorse

from the pulpit.
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/114444.htm

[DiverDave]

17. It takes a MAN to admit his mistakes.

I admire him for that.
Now to come back into the fold...

[leveymg]

18. A conscience in contagious: I hope he stays a Republican

There's a lot of wailing and knashing of teeth that's well overdue in Congress, particularly on the other side of the isle.

Rep. Jones should bring some of his colleagues to Walter Reed. Invite the GOP leadership. Let them look at what they've done up close.

I'll forgive anyone who sincerely regrets voting for that war, provided they now do something proactive to get us the hell out.

[leftchick]

19. yes and bring Hillary too!

she needs a dose of reality.

[progressoid]

20. Lets hope that attitude rubs off onto a few more members of Congress.

[bobbolink]

21. C-Span doesn't list whether it will be re-played.

Thanks for the headsup, cuz I'm gonna write to them and ask them to replay this!

[DemReadingDU]

24. re-play Mon @ 10:28 pm C-span1

[Stand and Fight]

29. What time zone? n/t

[DemReadingDU]

30. 10:28pm Eastern

[bobbolink]

51. Thanks! I saw your reply just in time to catch the replay!

I would have missed it otherwise, so I appreciate your post.

Got it taped for sharing. :hi:

[KharmaTrain]

28. A True Profile In Courage

It's tough these days to speak up against this regime and invasion without having the rabid corporate media and the hate radio spewers slime you in every way possible. It's double tough to be a Repugnican and have the stones to do what I've been seeing Congressman Jones do over the past year...first expressing doubts and now coming full circle to face the reality of the situation.

Ironically...or not so, the corporate media has ignored this man's story like he has bubonic plague. They sure rushed to him when he was making the Freedom Fries crack, but now when he's not "with the team" he's personna non-gratis. Ironically, if he were a Democrat he'd be trounced, but the "R" on his back just makes him invisible.

It's rare for me to say this about a Repugnican, but I do admire the guts this man has to do and say what he's doing.

[femrap]

31. Jones needs to REPENT...

as far as I am concerned. And that means he needs to start spilling some beans on his neo-con brethern. Don't tell me he doesn't know some dirt on these guys.

He must atone...he must talk. He will never make it to heaven if he doesn't.

Does anyone know someone who could lay this big guilt trip on him....he seems ready to hear it.

Someone in NC? Where's his church?

[snot]

32. Talk is cheap; so are tears. Don't mean to be cynical but

I'm concerned that there's gonna be a lot of Repubs who "see the light" just in time to redeem themselves in the eyes of their constituencies for the Nov. elections . . . but who take no significant action after that either to convict the wrongdoers or to undo what they have wrought.

[DaveT]

33. In general, I agree with you about politicians, but

this guy is an exception. He can't be all that bright and he is totally full of shit in his philosophy of politics.

But it cannot possibly help his political position to turn on the bullshit of the Iraq war. He is the real deal, the Jimmy Stewart-like honest simpleton gone to Washington, shocked to discover that all those BIG guys he's looked up to all his life are just a bunch of sharpie liars. It rocked the poor sap's world.

You gotta love a guy like that. He really believes Republican bullshit in his heart: self-reliance, small government, individual liberty, Christian charity more valuable than government handouts. I have relatives like him. We all do. Most of them just succomb to cognitive dissonance and denial when the bodies come home from Iraq -- but this guy is too real to do that.

If only there were more sincere conservatives, they would all realize that there is nothing conservative about having gangsters run the country.

Cheers to Jones. Bless his tormented soul.

[wizdum]

34. Maybe it's time to stop calling him a repuke. He needs support now...

since he is obviously feeling very guilty about the karmic repercussions of his vote on a personal and national level. Reconciliation is the key to winning over the opposition, which is why I wish folks on this board would stop calling our opponents so many names. Why do we stoop to their level? Doesn't that make us as bad as them? I am going to send this guy a letter. His newfound feelings of compassion need to be nurtured and gentle guidance should be offered to encourage him towards right thinking.

If you were walking down a road, and found that someone had fallen into a dark hole and was trapped, wouldn't you extend a hand to pull them out? That is what we must do with our opponents, particularly the ones who are coming around. Name calling (except in the case of Coultergeist) should be kept to a minimum. The problem develops because we focus on repubs so much, we start becoming like them, since all they do is name call. But truth always wins out in the end. Patience is all the strength we need.

<i>I just finished watching the special hearing on pre-war intelligence and how it was twisted, cherry picked, reamed, steamed and dry cleaned into the neocon wet dream of an Iraq War. The most amazing aspect of it for me was watching Rep. Jones who looked like he wanted to weep through the whole thing.</i>

Spectacular presentation.

I am no fan of Hillary and I don't think she deserves the presidential nomination. And I don't think she'll get it either.

[autorank]

35. Jones is a very dangerous man to the WH. K&R

He's sincere and actually lives much of what he believes, I suspect. This is a 180, complete.

He may come home to the Democrats, move toward populism, or whatever but it's going to be very
uncomfortable. Now if there's a Jones 2.0 and 3.0, then they're in real trouble.

Great post.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

36. Yes, but is he going to continue to toe the party line? Endorse the "cut &

run" label against Dems? Support indefinite entanglement in Iraq, to save face, now?

If he does those things, then the rest of this is only posturing.

[Senator]

37. Perhaps Mr. Jones will Stop the Euphemizing and Say It: "Terrorized...

...the Nation into War!"

The time has come to deny the DC/Euphemedia Analstocracy the comfort of their language of rationalization.

Keith Olberman got close once by saying that the bushkid decided to "scare the crap out of" the people in LA with his self-serving report of a foiled "terror plot" (more fanciful notion than operation). And Matthews was doing OK a while back by correctly pointing out that "lying us into war" was coersive fear-mongering.

But it won't change things unless someone really lays out -- UNEUPHEMIZED.

They committed the MOST HEINOUS ACT OF TERRORISM IN HISTORY when they falsely threatened the American People with "mushroom clouds in 45 minutes."

Anything 20 guys with boxcutters could do pales in comparison. Even a years-off Iranian nuke or a "dirty bomb" is less threatening.

The **PNACons' "bomb threat" on our nation (resulting in the sacrifice our soldiers' lives) was only perpetrated to advance their own ideological and profiteering wet-dreams.

This was clearly premeditated criminal intent leading to willful criminal acts, that in the context of national security can only accurately be called HIGH TREASON.

Terrorizing our (once great) nation for whatever reason is far worse than Watergate, worse than Iran/contra, worse than pardoning co-conspirators to obstruct justice.

And we need to say so. Loudly. And refuse to shut up until full punishment is exacted.

--

{Note: Yes, this post is a cut/paste job that you've seen before. But that's the point. We need to be repetitive and forceful (hyperbolic) with our language. Wash, rinse, repeat. Tepid talk draws tepid action. Patriotism and morality no longer affords us such a luxury.}

----

**(pronounced pee-nah-cons)

[oasis]

38. Jones asked panelist Joseph Cirincione if criminal charges could be

brought against certain members of Bush's administration for misleading the congress.

Cirincione says something about "landmines of perjury".

[leftchick]

39. he said it would be the coverup that trips them up

like that will ever happen anyway. :(

[goodhue]

40. not today

It has been a couple years now since he turned

[UpInArms]

41. has Mr. Jones signed on with Conyers to impeach the liars? .. eom

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

42. I just did a search on Yahoo news and only one article! The Nation!

We watched and Know and yet this is going to be another well hidden event where truth was spoken.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=walter+jones+dorgan+wilkerson&fr=sfp&ei=UTF-8&x=wrt

[rucky]

45. WaPo and KRT picked it up...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/26/AR2006062601306.html

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14911041.htm

It'll run the usual cycle.

But newspapers are like shrinks: The people who need them the most, never use them.

[Theres-a]

47. Kick

[young_at_heart]

48. As a North Carolinian, I'm proud......come on Dole and Burr!

There's NO chance my rep (Charles Taylor) would join Jones, but one can dream!

[mwooldri]

49. Dole and Burr are in lock-goosestep with the BA.

The day they vote for something that actually improves the lot of Nort Carolinians will be a good day. Dole & Burr have both voted to cut healthcare, esp. Medicaid in a time when traditional jobs in NC are disappearing. They have voted to leave every child behind, and would rather our troops in Ft Bragg etc. don't come home from Iraq.

Mark.

[HootieMcBoob]

50. He should switch parties

The only way we are ever going to get to the bottom of this is if there is a change the house and senate.