Rocky, vet exchange views
Mayor and Legion chief find little in common
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and American Legion National Commander Tom Bock met Thursday morning in Salt Lake City for about 40 minutes to express their views on protests, the U.S. occupation in Iraq and the global war on terror.
"The mayor is entrenched in his position and his strategies," Bock said in a phone interview afterward.
At the end of the "cordial" meeting, Bock invited Anderson to attend — but not speak at — the general session next week for the American Legion's 88th annual national convention at the Salt Palace.
Bock said the mayor did not indicate if he would attend. Anderson, a Democrat, told Bock that if the American Legion believed in free speech, its leaders would allow him time at the podium during the convention. Local Legion officials instead have invited Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, also a Democrat, to give a welcoming speech to veterans at the county-run facility Tuesday.
Calls to Anderson's office for comment on this story were not returned. Anderson has refused repeated requests for interviews from the Deseret Morning News for 64 days as of Thursday.
The meeting included talk about how an estimated 100 Iraqis a day are being killed by insurgents and other Iraqis.
"He says it's our fault they're being killed," Bock said about the mayor's stance. "He thinks if we weren't there, the killing would stop. He fails to see the progress in Iraq."
According to the Department of Defense, more than 2,600 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war began in 2003. Of that number, 2,085 were killed during hostile activity while the remaining deaths are considered accidental or occurring during non-hostile situations.
Bock said he tried to focus his meeting with the mayor on the larger issue of the global war on terror and how U.S. involvement in Iraq fits in.
"He believes in targeting individuals," Bock said: President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "To me, that's divisive."
Bush, Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are all expected to give speeches at the convention next week. However, no one with the Legion is certain when Bush will arrive or speak. Bock said Wednesday that efforts are continuing to schedule Bush for an Aug. 30 speech, because the remaining half day Thursday is packed with Legion business and items to vote on.
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