U.S. Policy in Iraq, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (Cong. Tom Davis, R-VA)(CSPAN 5:21 AM ET)

C-Span ^ | Aug, 23, 2007 | CSpan

[BillF]

[COMING ON CSPAN AT 5:21 AM EASTERN TIME, ABOUT AN HOUR IN LENGTH]

U.S. Policy in Iraq Americans Against Escalation in Iraq Washington, District of Columbia (United States) ID: 200531 - 08/23/2007 - 0:57 - $29.95

Davis, Thomas U.S. Representative, R-VA

Beers, Rand President, National Security Network

Bruhns, John Legislative Director, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq

U.S. Representative Tom Davis attended the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq's "Take a Stand" town hall meeting, held at the Accotink Unitarian Church, to explain the U.S. policy in Iraq.

[BillF]

A few hours ago, I caught the last few minutes of this on C-Span, but it is scheduled to replay at 5:21 am Eastern time.

The event took place Thursday in VA's 11th Cong. District (near DC, but not in it, contrary to what C-Span says above), represented by Cong. Tom Davis, a Republican who is pretty moderate, but may have difficulty holding his seat as the district is turning more liberal and Democratic.

The organizing group, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, is now the group associated with John Bruhns, an antiwar Iraq Vet. (Apparently, he really was in Iraq, but I can't verify that and I'm always cautious about that description since we know that some other antiwar people have falsely claimed combat service.)

Background info, the thread with an advance announcement of this:

Burke, VA Freep Opportunity: Moonbats At It Again-Town Hall 8/23/07, 2-3pm, RINO Tom Davis To Attend
AfterDowningStreet (aka Impeachment Moonbats) ^ | Aug. 21, 2007 | Faceless Moonbat named "Chip"

Posted on 08/21/2007 4:50:28 AM PDT by tgslTakoma

Apparently the Moonbats have gotten an agreement from Virginia RINO, Tom Davis, to attend (and speak at) a Moonbat Town Hall Meeting in Burke, VA on Thursday, August 23rd from 2:00 until 3:00 pm.

The Moonbats hosting this event call themselves "Americans Against the Escalation in Iraq."

At this meeting they intend to ask questions of Davis, "regarding the Iraq war and Rep. Davis' rubberstamping of Bush's Iraq policies despite stating many times that he is against the war."

Best news of all is that they have invited you Virginians who may be interested, to attend the meeting!

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THAT THREAD.

Background on the moderator Bruhns

Bruhns previously was a campaign aide with the John Edwards campaign and was involved in VoteVets.org, apparently a George Soros operation. He is now with this Americans Against Escalation in Iraq group. When with the Edwards campaign, Bruhns was defending Edwards from criticism over Edwards' calls for people to use Memorial Day events to protest the war, even as Bruhns purported to disagree with that Edwards' strategy.

Shortly thereafter, Bruhns said that he was no longer associated with Edwards, but it is unclear whether his leaving the campaign had anything to do with the Memorial Day problem.

Bruhns had a tense run-in, summarized below, with FReepers when Bruhns was with the Code Pink psych-op demonstration against wounded troops at Walter Reed in 2005. More recently, he has complained about the accuracy of FR threads describing his activities.

One of the below threads identified Bruhns as being a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and he responded by denying that, but he was said to be a IVAW member in web promotions for leftist events that he attended. Considering also that he understated his participation with Code Pink's Walter Reed activities, it is unclear if he was misidentifed as IVAW or he is denying membership in the group because he now finds his prior activities embarassing as his Code Pink-supporting actions are.

Relative to the more recent online disputes with him, the following threads are relevant:

How Many Times Did John Bruhns Stand With Code Pink At Walter Reed?
Multiple Freepers' and bloggers' cameras and audio recorders | May 29, 2007

Posted on 05/29/2007 8:45:58 PM PDT by tgslTakoma

[SNIP]

September 16, 2005:

On this date, this "same night" thread documents Bruhns' attempts to start a fight with Freepers. On his third week (verified via photo searches on various sources) with the Code Pinkos' WRAMC protest, Bruhns stormed across the street, from the Code Pinko side of the street and started spewing profanities at bmwcyle and others (caught on audio tape by a Freeper):

Then he made a big show of pulling up his sleeve:

and revealing a USMC tattoo:

September 16, 2005 official AAR thread, posted 9/21/05.

[SNIP]

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THAT THREAD.

---

John Edwards Spokesman Protested with Code Pink Traitors at Walter Reed
Thursday, May 17, 2007 | Kristinn

Posted on 05/17/2007 3:17:20 PM PDT by kristinn

John Edwards spokesman, Iraq war veteran John Bruhns, has been defending the Edwards presidential campaign from criticism over Edwards' call for people to protest the Iraq war at Memorial Day parades.

Appearing via telephone on the Fox News Channel's 'Big Story with John Gibson', Bruhns said that the Edwards campaign is backing away from the call to publicly protest the war at parades and is instead asking supporters to send care packages and to reflect on the war.

While Bruhns said that he himself did not support Edwards' call to protest at Memorial Day parades, he failed to mention that he has protested the war at a similarly hallowed setting: Walter Reed Army Medical Center where grieviously wounded Iraq and Afghan vets struggle to recover from their war wounds.

Bruhns spent several Friday nights outside the main gate to Walter Reed in 2005 with the terrorist supporting Marxist front group Code Pink after the group became notorious for taunting wounded soldiers with signs like "Maimed for a Lie" and "Enlist Here and Die for Halliburton."

Bruhns is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. IVAW called our soldiers in Iraq war criminals in testimony before the World Tribunal on Iraq in Istanbul, Turkey in 2005. The tribunal endorsed the terrorists in Iraq and their killing of American soldiers.

Bruhns is currently featured in a pro-surrender ad by Votevets.org that was directed by Oliver Stone.

[snip]

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THAT THREAD.

[BillF]

Pinging those who posted on the announcement thread.

I wasn’t able to go in person, but will try to tape this and watch the whole thing before summarizing in a couple days.

In the meantime, if anyone else attended the event or saw on C-Span, they could add their thoughts on this thread or start their own as they prefer.

[BillF]

Pinging those who posted on the announcement thread.

I wasn’t able to go in person, but will try to tape this and watch the whole thing before summarizing in a couple days.

In the meantime, if anyone attended the event or saw on C-Span, they could add their thoughts on this thread or start their own as they prefer.

[Nathan Zachary]

Bruhns looks like a deranged psychopath in that pic.

And big deal- he got a tattoo at some scuzzy tattoo parlor. Anyone can get one, but only a deranged psychopath would get one to reinforce a psychotic delusion to “be all your schizophrenic delusion says you can be”.

I highly doubt this wierdo was part of any USMC combat unit, at best he was a supply clerk, stuffed out of the way somewhere after basic training when it was realized he was a deranged psychopath..

[BillF]

I think that he really was in a combat unit.

As to his actions on the night that the pictures were taken, you may want to listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbEC7ZuUUjg which is an audio of him loosing it, together with the photos.

[BillF]

I messed up the "CLICK HERE FOR THE REST . . ." link associated with the indented "How Many Times . . ." thread above. Click on the "How Many Times . . ." title in the post #1 comment to get to that thread.

[Candor7]

He needs to be challenged to release his service record, to the press.If he refuses, then he is just another moonbat, who forgot the face of his fathers.

[BillF]

A trusted friend had a more cordial conversation with Bruhns than that on the above link from the Walter Reed event. The conservative, pro-finishing the mission in Iraq, friend, who is quite knowledgeable about Iraq and the military, is convinced that Bruhns is telling the truth about serving in combat in Iraq.

Bruhns was prominently featured in a George Soros financed ad directed by Oliver Stoned. It’s hard to believe that the people behind the ad would not make sure that Bruhns was legit. Otherwise, exposure of any major fraud would cause their money and efforts to be wasted and their antiwar cause would be severely hurt.

I can’t prove that he was in combat, but I’m convinced that he almost certainly was.

I don’t think challenging him to release his service record is a good idea, what’s the point? He is not running for Prez or other office at this stage. I think he should just be debated on the issues.

[Candor7]

Perhaps combat made him a little whacky, it happens fequently, that the idea of combat and the experience , makes one feel exploited, of having given too much to one's country.

That leads to a bitterness that can ruin one's life, cause all sorts of problems.

I will defer to those with recent combat experience in judging this mans veracity

He can be debated on the issues, but the Dems have been very successful a dredging up disatisfied and disillusioned soldiers.

Thats getting quite old, and I believe a more agressive stanz to them might be needed.

Questions like: " How much are they paying you?" come to mind.

[oneamericanvoice]

I agree that he needs to be challenged. Ask him to show his VA card. Not everyone signed up for one, but I’ll bet alot did. Asking questions may give him away especially if you have a current vet doing the asking.

[oneamericanvoice]

Bruhns is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. IVAW called our soldiers in Iraq war criminals in testimony before the World Tribunal on Iraq in Istanbul, Turkey in 2005. The tribunal endorsed the terrorists in Iraq and their killing of American soldiers. Treason.

[BillF]

I agree that those, veterans or not, who endorse killing of American soldiers are committing treason, but Bruhns has not endorsed such killing. Moreover, he has denied that he ever was in IVAW.

Maybe he was in IVAW and he got out when he realized how radical they are. On the other hand, maybe he was just correctly introduced by leftists as “an Iraq veteran against the war” and that was incorrectly modified in some intros or in writing to indicate that he was from “Iraq Veterans Against the War.” After reviewing things in detail, I think that the latter explanation of confusion over the name is more likely and that he was never a member of IVAW.

I was there outside Walter Reed when Bruhns seemed close to starting a fight with a friend of mine, another FReeper. He may have some anger issues and, IMHO, he is wrong about Iraq policy. I don’t think that is the same as treason.