Walter Jones Is Dead

Rep. Walter Jones Jr. (R-NC), who made it his mission to atone for his vote sending U.S. troops into Iraq in the early 2000s, died Sunday on his 76th birthday, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.

Washington Post: “Jones began his tenure on Capitol Hill as a staunch conservative and voted in 2002 to authorize military action against Iraq. He came to view the invasion as a mistake, and sought to do his penance by writing to the relatives of every deceased U.S. service member, one heart-wrenching letter at a time.”