Washblog

Initial questions were raised by vets with problems resolving medical and status of injury issues. There were reps from both VA hospitals, as well as Smith staff persons who handle veterans' affairs to field these concerns.

The tone of the town hall was changed when a question was raised about war planning, a paraphrased version follows:

"In war planning and accounting for war costs, would it be possible to mandate planning for care of the wounded as an intrinsic part of war planning? Is there some way of preventing the re-occurrence of the mismanagement of the Iraqi invasion when Rumsfeld headed the Defense Department and failed to provide for our wounded vets?"

A lot of cheering ensued because of the slam against Rumsfeld. He is obviously not a very popular guy with vets.

Smith was startled in finally saying that he was wrong to grant Bush war powers. He extenuated himself by saying that he feared it would look "partisan" if he refused to trust the presidency of Bush and refused to extend these powers.

There were many in the audience who were not sympathetic to this view.

Smith went on to state the obvious, that the Iraqi adventure had been grossly mismanaged and that Democrats were doing their damndest to rein it in ... when a group from Federal Way Matters stood up in the back of the auditorium and displayed their T-shirts which spelled out the word "IMPEACH."

Smith reverted back immediately to his old game plan of, "Name me one impeachable item," and went on to say that the Bush administration had done nothing that was more heinous than preceding administrations.

The Federal Way Matters folks were not impressed with Smith's answers, needless to say, and discussion became quite spirited.

Smith did concede that the issue of Iraq held top priority, even though he has removed that issue as a topic when constituents e-mail him about their concerns. He has promised to see that the topic of Iraq is restored.

The issue of privatization of the war was raised. Like always, the town hall was too short to deal with all issues but perhaps Smith can be persuaded to have more town halls on the more controversial aspects of America's present situation.

And, be advised that the folks of Federal Way Matters hold an "Enough" demonstration every Sunday at the corner of 320th and Pac Highway in Federal Way between 12 and 1 PM. You are invited to stand with us.

And, hopefully, other persons who attended the town hall will offer up their version of the event.