Iraq War Critic to Serve Final Tour in Iraq

Jon Soltz, the outspoken Iraq war critic who runs VoteVets.org, will soon take a year-long leave of absence from the group—so he can be deployed to Iraq. “I'm not an idiot. I've known the possibilities of this for a long time,” Soltz, a longtime Army Reserve member who’s served in Iraq before, tells the Huffington Post. “I get the honor to be probably in the last rotation in Iraq.”

Soltz will be leaving sometime after the holiday season for a 12-month tour, which should take him through the full withdrawal date of December 2011. Ex-Gen. Wesley Clark, who’s on VoteVets’ board, praised Soltz, saying, “I think he is very wise to keep his commitment alive to the army and go back in and continue his army service,” he said. “That is what public service is all about. When you are a soldier you go where the country tells you to go.” (More VoteVets.org stories.)