Picking up from the previous chapter, the story of Georgia Stillwell and her son, who recently returned home from Iraq, continues...

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Anti-war mom to meet Hastert
Chicago Tribune
Posted by Michael Dorning at 3:45 pm CDT

Georgia Stillwell, the mother an Iraq veteran who once took PE class from the wife of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, came to Washington this week on a mission to get an audience with the Republican congressional leader. It now looks like she will get her wish.

Stillwell, an activist with the anti-war group Military Families Speak Out, said she had requested a meeting two weeks ago but was told that the Speaker could not fit her in to his schedule.

She arrived in Washington on Monday to press her case, joining other military parents and spouses who have been demonstrating against the war outside the Capitol building in recent weeks.

Anti-war activist Michael Moore took up her cause on Tuesday, featuring her plea for a meeting on his web site and urging readers to phone in to Hastert's office. The Illinois and Wisconsin chapters of Military Families Speak Out also began call-in campaigns on her behalf on Tuesday, according to an organizer for the group.

By noon on Tuesday, Stillwell received a call inviting her to meet with Hastert on Wednesday at his office in the U.S. Capitol. Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean confirmed this afternoon that she was scheduled for the meeting, saying that Hastert considered the meeting to a matter of "constituent case work."

Stillwell said her son, who served with the U.S. Army in Mosul, has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since he was discharged from the military.

Stillwell, a former resident of Sandwich, Ill., said she hoped to speak to Hastert both about the war and support for veterans with combat-related psychological issues.

Hastert has been a steadfast supporter of President Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq.

"I'm not going to debate him. I'm just going to tell him stories....We can relate as parents. He can understand as a parent," Stillwell said.

"I'm not saying Dennis Hastert will change. But he's a human being. He has feelings," she continued. "The next time they're talking about 'staying the course,' maybe my son will slip into his mind."

Anti-war mom sees Hastert
Chicago Tribune
Posted by Michael Dorning at 10:31 pm CDT

Georgia Stillwell, an anti-war activist and mother of an Iraq combat veteran from House Speaker Dennis Hastert's home district, came to Washington this week determined to speak to the House's highest-ranking member.

(Left to right: Georgia Stillwell; Scott Palmer, chief of staff to Hastert; Stacy Bannerman of Military Families Speak Out; House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Photo by Andrew Cutraro for the Chicago Tribune.)

On Wednesday, she got her meeting, spending 25 minutes with Hastert at his U.S. Capitol office.

Stillwell, 44, who said her son has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since returning from Iraq, came to ask for an end to the war and better services for veterans with combat-related psychological difficulties.

A former resident of Sandwich, Ill., who now lives in Wisconsin, Stillwell said her son once took gym class from Hastert's wife, Jean.

She came to Washington as part of "Operation House Call," a campaign of visits to members of Congress organized by the anti-war group Military Families Speak Out.

Stillwell said after the meeting that she found Hastert personable and attentive to her son's difficulties but unreceptive to calls to end the war.

"I feel like he would help me on my son, that he would make it happen." Stillwell said. But, she added, "When I came out of there, I couldn't breathe. I was thinking, ‘It's not going to stop.'"

"I appreciated him making time to see me, and I told him that," she continued. "It's a process. I knew I wasn't going to change his mind. But he needs to learn what's happening to us on the front line and that kids are being permanently damaged, if they make it home. And I made it clear to him I feel like the country is ungrateful."

Hastert, who has been a steadfast supporter of President Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq, declined to discuss the meeting, which was private. But his press secretary offered brief comments on it.

"The Speaker thought she was a very patriotic woman who was proud of her son's service in Iraq. She has concerns about what happens to soldiers when they come home," said press secretary Ron Bonjean.

"The Speaker wants to bring the troops home, too. But we're trying to do that by standing up the Iraqi Army so our troops can stand down," Bonjean added.