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Iraq veterans make noise at convention

DENVER — Iraq war veterans are playing an active role at the Democratic convention, where they’ve marched, staged mock foot patrols on downtown sidewalks and met with a former first lady to discuss veterans’ health care.

Their activism is reminiscent of Vietnam veterans who came home and protested the Vietnam War. But their approach is much more low-key than veterans-turned-activists from Vietnam, some of whom threw out their medals in public protest.

The Iraq veterans in Denver say they want to keep the war and veterans’ issues in the public spotlight. They are doing that by soliciting donations at fundraisers for vets running for Congress, marching in demonstrations and throwing a concert today, headlined by Rage Against the Machine, for 8,000 people.

“The war has really changed this generation,” said David Bellavia, 33, of Buffalo, N.Y., an Iraq veteran who helped form the group Vets for Freedom, which advocates against immediately withdrawing troops from Iraq. “We can no longer be looked at as this couch-potato-what-about-me” generation.

Bellavia and another Iraq veteran were walking the convention grounds in suits and ties and meeting with reporters and delegates. Once uninterested in politics, Bellavia said seeing comrades die motivated him to get involved.

War service in Afghanistan led Matthis Chiroux, 24, of New York, to the conclusion that the Iraq war should end immediately. Members of his organization, Iraq Veterans Against the War, walked around in military fatigues on Tuesday “detaining” volunteers to give observers an idea of what it’s like to serve in Iraq. They are hosting today’s concert and plan a march after the show to the main convention site.

Unlike during the Vietnam War, the veterans from the recent wars have been warmly welcomed at home. Tonight, two Iraq veterans, Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., and Tammy Duckworth, Illinois’ director of Veterans’ Affairs, will lead a tribute to soldiers and their families.

The public’s welcoming of this generation of veterans has led to a different approach by young veterans who challenge the system, said Don Goldstein, a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Also, he said, the Internet has made communication easier.

“They are quieter, more organized now than ever before,” Goldstein said.

Outside the main convention site, Iraq veteran Patrick Campbell, 30, of Camarillo, Calif., legislative director for the nonpartisan Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, stopped and thanked “Obama Girl” Amber Lee Ettinger for making an ad for his group. Earlier, he said, he approached former first lady Rosalynn Carter to discuss mental health issues for veterans.

“She said, ‘I want to get involved,’ ” Campbell said. “If we hadn’t been here, we wouldn’t have made those connections.”