That’s my question for Wyoming’s lone rep in the U.S. House, Barbara Cubin. She traveled to Iraq recently and wrote an account for her e-mail newsletter. I am very thankful that Ms. Cubin risked her neck to bring me this first-hand report of the battle zone. Knowledge is better than ignorance, which is all that we usually hear from Ms. Cubin. She has stubbornly clung to the claim by Bush & Cheney that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with Osama bin Laden. She tells us that Iraq is the front line in the so-called War on terror. Well, it wasn’t before we invaded -- but it is now.
You can get more balderdash about the war at Cubin's web site: http://www.house.gov/cubin/.
Here are some highlights of her dispatches from the war:
Imagine anything you have ever seen on television, in the movies or in newspapers depicting war – being on the ground in a war zone in Baghdad and Balad is incredibly more dramatic and intense. I traveled with four other Members of Congress. We rode for hours on C-130 planes, strapped to the same uncomfortable seats in which our military men and women travel into war. We slept in military beds, ate in chow halls and in Baghdad traveled through a "red zone" (an unsafe, unsecured area) in humvees, all the while wearing approximately 30 pounds of heavy protective armor.
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I have always believed we as lawmakers have a responsibility to listen to our military commanders on the ground and trust in their first-hand experience of battle. During my time in Iraq, that is just what I did -- listen. I met American generals, Iraqi police, State Department officials, military medical teams, officers and enlisted men and women, including several out of the hundreds of Wyoming's own sons and daughters. I asked the same three questions of everyone I met while in Iraq. I asked how the current U.S. political debate affected their efforts, how we were doing on the ground and if we were making progress. The people with whom I spoke told me frankly that the debate in Washington over troop withdrawal and the lack of support for the war hurts morale. They said it makes their jobs harder and diminishes their overall chance of success in Iraq. They do not understand how opponents of the war can say they support the troops, but not the war. The soldiers are proud of their jobs, their work in Iraq and their country. They see their jobs and the war as, understandably, linked.
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Each person with whom I spoke said that while the situation in Iraq remained critical, real progress is being made. Sectarian violence has been curbed in many areas, security in some contested regions has improved and the Iraqi people have been joining with U.S. forces against Al-Qaeda. I was told that our presence in the country was not only important for Iraq and the region, but important for the United States and the entire world in deterring terrorism.
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In my opinion, as a country we must stop bickering and unite behind our troops and their mission. Not adequately funding this war in a timely fashion would be a severe mistake for our nations' security and would not serve our troops. If we truly support our soldiers and their families, we must give them the means to carry out their mission and return home after success, not failure.
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Our service men and women truly make the red, white and blue proud.
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