Published: July 15, 2007 05:40 pm      

POLITICS: Veteran talks about Iraq and running for Congress

Iraqi war vet Jonathan Powers, 29, is running for Congress in the 26th District, which was carried last year by Rep. Thomas Reynolds by a 4-percent margin against Akron businessman Jack Davis.

Powers, a Democrat who lives in Williamsville and grew up in Clarence, graduated from John Carroll University, where he studied education.

Following his service in the Middle East he came home to teach.

While he was home he was asked to tour the country for six weeks with producers of a documentary made about his unit, “Gunner Palace,” and it was on the tour that he decided to start an organization to help Iraqi children affected by violence.

According to the latest financial filings, Powers has raised $111,758 in the first month of his campaign. His likely opponent, Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-Clarence, has $585,862 on hand.

The former artillery platoon leader of the Army’s First Armored Division talks about why he’s running and what life was like as a captain in the U.S. Army in Iraq.

QUESTION: How did you get involved in the military?

ANSWER: Joining the ROTC was more of a way to pay for college. ...

ROTC was an extension of being active in the community here. ... I was stationed in Germany when Sept. 11 happened. I think for a lot of us in the military Sept. 11 was a major change in how we viewed our role. I think for a lot of people the military was an opportunity, it was an experience, but when Sept. 11 happened you realized your responsibility and why you’re really doing it.

... I was in Iraq from May 2003 to July 2004 and had a very life-changing experience which has led to where I am today.

•••

Q: What should the United States be doing in Iraq, or not doing in Iraq?

A: First of all, let’s go back to the beginning.

In May 2003, we had a tremendous opportunity. Not only did we believe in the mission but the Iraqis believed in the mission. They were excited that we were bringing them America. Not Hollywood and blue jeans but this community here. We were eating dinner in the Iraqis’ homes. We had a great relationship with them. I played in a soccer league with Iraqis.

I had a 50,000-person sector of the city. You would drive through literally pools of sewage that were half-a-Humvee tire deep and piles of garbage because Saddam hadn’t picked anything up because he had been focusing on the Army and literally these systems were just broken. ...

We went right out in the streets and we met with the leaders and we said, Let’s do this.

Another platoon leader and I put together a sewage and waste pick-up plan. We had four sewage trucks, four waste trucks, we had community tribal leaders, the sheiks and the imams all on board to bring out people to help pick up garbage, this is in June 2003.

It cost $40 per week to run it.

We couldn’t get $40.

Paul Bremer’s organization had already contracted out to an American contractor who didn’t show up until nearly September.

One hundred twenty-degree heat, piles of garbage, pools of sewage, and the Iraqis started asking us, America’s been to the moon, why can’t you pick up our trash?

It was in September (my battalion) saw our first roadside bomb and in November we lost our first soldier and it steadily declined after that.

It got worse because there had been no reconstruction plan. As a 24-year-old education major I (ran) a 50,000-person sector of the city. ...

Things fell apart because there was no plan, it was mismanaged and there’s been a tremendous amount of leadership and a lack of accountability on all aspects of it. ...

We had five armored Humvees for 600 guys a year into the war.

•••

Q: Why did you start War Kids Relief?

A: It started because people said, how can we help.

They held a fundraiser for me in Clarence Town Park and we raised enough money so I could go back. I flew as a civilian back into Baghdad. It was originally supposed to be an orphans and street kids project.

Forty percent of Iraq is under 14 years old. Sixty-one percent is under 25. Of the millions we’re spending on reconstruction, very little is going to youth development.

As a result, we have 12- and 15-year-olds in Sadr City who are building roadside bombs for as little as $3 a day. We’re creating a generation of hatred there. ...

War Kids has struggled to do much in Iraq on the ground itself but we’ve done a tremendous amount of good in terms of getting the discussion started in Washington, in terms of advocacy, bringing awareness to what is going on, in terms of trying to connect American kids with Iraqi kids.

That’s the way we’re going to get this thing solved.

•••

Q: But still, what should the U.S. do there right now?

A: We’ll be putting out an Iraq plan but we should have a strategic redeployment.

In the summer of 2003 there was three major things we needed to adjust in Iraq.

There was the military solution, the economic solution and the social solution. We only addressed the military solution. We had well over 70 percent unemployment and we didn’t get the community together at all. We continue to only push the military solution. Now there’s four pieces with the political solution. ...

Right now the debate in Washington right now is wrong. It’s Stay the Course 2.0 or withdrawal. Neither of those are solutions.

The army is maxed out. They’re sending guys on numerous deployments.

They’re not having the equipment they need. We need realistic solutions.

I think a great model was the Iraq Study Group. It was a bi-partisan solution.

•••

Q: Have you always been a Democrat?

A: No. I grew up Republican. I switched when I got back from Iraq because I came home and I looked at who was in charge of this country. At the time, there was one party in charge. It was the party I grew up with but it was not the party I grew up believing in.

I’ve never been political growing up, my parents aren’t political. ... I went to war for America. I didn’t go to war for a specific party.

•••

Q: When did you decide to run?

A: Over the last few months. I saw what happened in the last election. It was completely obvious that people wanted a change. ... People are ready for new leadership here.

•••

Q: America’s elected a lot of people to Congress who have a lot of different ideas about the war. How is another one going to make a difference?

A: I think my experience, my values and my proven leadership makes me uniquely qualified for this. There’s only one Iraq veteran in Congress now. Iraq’s a piece of the pie. I’m not a one-issue candidate. But I can’t get away from it. It’s the most important issue of the day right now on the international level. There’s issues here at home too but it’s a lack of leadership that has put us in this direction.

•••

Q: What are your domestic priorities?

A: Jobs for upstate New York, affordable health care, the immigration issues that affect rural areas.