[Mb-civic] Forget Freedom Fries: U.S. Lawmaker Jones Turns Against the War

[Jef Bek]

Forget Freedom Fries: U.S. Lawmaker Jones Turns Against the War

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Walter Jones says the French may have been right
about Iraq after all.

This isn't just any U.S. politician having second thoughts. Jones, a
Republican representative from North Carolina, is the guy who was so
incensed at France's opposition to the U.S. invasion he had the French fries
served in congressional cafeterias renamed ``Freedom'' fries.

Now Jones has changed his mind about the war, and critics who called his
gesture a trivializing stunt may be changing theirs about him. ``I don't
think Walter's the only member'' of Congress rethinking Iraq, said
Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who called Freedom
fries ``one of the silliest things'' he'd ever seen in Congress. ``What's
unusual about Walter is he's willing to say it.''

Jones says he has lined up 46 co-sponsors of legislation he introduced with
two anti-war Democrats in June calling on President George W. Bush to set a
timetable for bringing U.S. troops back. He says he expects the number of
co-sponsors to increase after Congress resumes next week.

``If I had known what I know now, I wouldn't have voted to send troops into
Iraq,'' Jones, 62, said in an interview. ``The intelligence and the
justification were extremely weak.''

Writing Letters 

Jones traces his misgivings in part to just after the war began in March
2003, when he attended the funeral of Marine Sergeant Michael Bitz, who was
killed that month outside of Nasiriyah. Bitz had been based in Camp Lejeune,
in Jones's district, and Jones was working to get a visa extended for Bitz's
Australian mother-in-law.

Bitz, 31, left behind three children, including twins born after he was sent
to Iraq. ``That preyed on my heart for a long time,'' Jones said. ``And then
I started writing letters.''

Jones has written, he estimates, 1,700 letters to the families of U.S.
troops killed in Iraq. He says he plans to write to the loved ones of all
those lost in the war (now 1,883, according to the Defense Department's Web
site). 

``I've got at least 40 to 50 letters to send right now on my credenza,'' he
said in an interview last week from his district office in Greenville.

``My heart aches as I write this,'' Jones's letters begin. Among those he
wrote to was Cindy Sheehan, the mother who camped out near President Bush's
Texas ranch demanding to meet with him to discuss the death of her son,
Casey, in Iraq. Bush, who met last year with Sheehan and a group of other
parents of Americans killed in Iraq, refused to see her again.

`Faces of the Fallen'

``If his staff had agreed to a 15-minute meeting with her, somewhere
private, that would've been the correct thing to do,'' Jones said. He says
he met with Sheehan in a small group -- ``three Gold Star Moms for Peace and
one Gold Star Daddy'' -- in Washington three months ago.

Trent Duffy, a Bush spokesman, declined to comment on Jones.

Jones also has lined the fourth floor of Washington's Cannon Congressional
Office Building, where his offices are, with posters showing the ``Faces of
the Fallen.'' There were 33 posters at last count, with an average of 42
pictures per poster, or a total of 1,386. ``We will put up pictures of them
all,'' Jones said. 

Jones ``takes every wound, every death, even those of Iraqis, to heart,''
said Representative Neil Abercrombie, a Hawaiian Democrat who co-sponsored
the ``Homeward Bound'' legislation. ``If Walter has a fault, it's that he
judges himself too harshly.''

Military District 

Jones, who has represented the Third District in southeastern North Carolina
for 11 years, has changed directions before. A former Southern Baptist and
Democrat, he switched to the Republican party in 1994, after he converted to
Roman Catholicism and became uncomfortable with the Democrats'
abortion-rights position. His father, Walter Jones Sr., was a Democrat who
represented North Carolina in the U.S. House for 26 years.

He also has bucked the party line. He opposed changes to House ethics rules
that critics said were designed to protect House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
He voted against the No Child Left Behind education act, the Central
American Free Trade Agreement and the Medicare prescription drug bill, all
measures pushed by Bush. ``You don't endear yourself to the administration''
with such positions, he said.

Jones's decision to co-sponsor the bill to set a withdrawal timeline may
make him vulnerable in his heavily military district, which includes Camp
Lejeune, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and Cherry Point Marine Air Station.

Baffled at Cubbies 

``We are certainly taking a close look at the district,'' said Sarah
Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,
which organizes Democratic congressional races. ``If you believe you're in a
safe seat and you're not voting along party lines, we're going to put a
tough candidate up against you.''

Jones says he isn't worried. ``What I'm hearing from more and more people is
they support the resolution,'' he said. ``I was in a Lowe's store today, and
three or four people came up and said, `Congressman, we really appreciate
you going up and presenting a plan.' Nobody's saying pull our troops out,
but what they're saying is we need a plan.''

While Freedom fries are gone from the cafeterias of Congress, they remain on
the menu at Cubbies, the restaurant next to the Cherry Point base where
Jones got the idea for the name change. His request was implemented by Ohio
Republican Bob Ney, who chairs the committee in charge of House operations.

Neal Rowland, the 28-year-old owner of Cubbies and a past supporter of
Jones, says he's baffled by his change of heart on Iraq and may not vote for
him when he seeks re-election next year.

``I have good customers, Vietnam vets, and some are upset the way he's
looking at things now,'' Rowland said. ``Then of course there are people
wondering what we're still doing over there.''



To contact the reporter on this story:
Jay Newton-Small in Washington at  jnewtonsmall at bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 1, 2005 00:07 EDT