DFA, Code Pink, Miami for Peace meet with Senator Nelson's regional director.

[madfloridian]

I think this is great. Bill Nelson has just been so totally unresponsive to activists. I like this idea. They did get a promise for a later appointment at some point in time. Hey, that's good for old Bill.

Meeting with Senator Nelson's director

Democracy for America Press Secretary, Simon Rose, together with representatives of Code Pink and Miami for Peace, attended an informal meeting with US Senator Bill Nelson's Regional Director, Gil Osorio, at the Senator's Coral Gables office. The purpose of the meeting was to call attention to the Senator his record on voting to continue funding the Iraq war and occupation in spite of overwhelming sentiment in his own state against the war.

The meeting lasted roughly an hour and a half so there was plenty of time for each person to speak his or her mind about why Senator Nelson has the power, along with Congress, to defund the war and bring our troops home safely.

Point after point was made about the unbelievable cost that this war has had in terms of human suffering, the dangerous destabilization of the entire region, the damage done to our military, and the harm to America's reputation throughout the world.

Members of Code Pink talked about how most of the war costs are going to pay mercenaries who earn up to five times as much as our service men and women. They went on to state the obvious: that corporations like Halliburton are making millions of dollars in war profits and that these same companies donate generously to our elected representatives.

The upside:

One of the bright spots of the meeting occurred when one of the Code Pink representatives received a call from Senator Nelson's office, saying that the Senator would be willing to sit down and speak with us at a date and location to be determined.

The details of this meeting will be discussed in a later post.

Good for these guys, and thanks, Simon for the good write up and picture.