Members Express Gratitude to Soldiers, Opposition to Prolonged War
Iraq
Bangor Daily News
Vicki Ekstrom
Boston University Washington News Service
3/12/2008
WASHINGTON – With almost 4,000 American lives lost, countless others physically and mentally wounded and half a trillion dollars spent, Maine’s members of Congress said that after five years of fighting in Iraq a change in course is necessary. But they said their support for the troops remains strong.
“We have nothing but inexpressible gratitude for the remarkable servicemen and women of our armed forces who are truly magnificent and unparalleled,” Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine said, echoing the gratitude of the entire Maine delegation. “They courageously place their lives at risk every day in heroic service to our nation at home and worldwide, and they remain at the forefront of our thoughts, prayers and concerns.”
Snowe highlighted the positives: Al Qaeda almost completely out of Anbar Province and a decrease in sectarian violence. She attributed these successes to the troops, but said that while the U.S. troops have done their job the Iraqi government has not.
“We are still conducting stability operations — that cannot go on indefinitely,” Snowe said. “We have to transition to a point where the Iraqis are stabilizing themselves, and that can’t and won’t happen as long as we are doing it for them.”
“It is time for the Iraqis to step up to the plate,” Snowe’s Senate colleague, Susan Collins, R-Maine, said.
Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, also said a change is needed, as the strain on the armed forces makes the United States less able to react to other threats. He blamed the failed policies of “civilian leadership,” who “took our country to war, misled us and failed to plan for what would happen after the fall of the Hussein regime.”
More pointed in his attack on President Bush, Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said, “I have been a consistent and outspoken critic of the President’s failed Iraq policies,” he said. “I will continue to oppose funding for the war in Iraq that does not clearly include a responsible end to America’s involvement in that country’s ongoing religious civil war.”
Last year, Collins, the senior Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a member of the Armed Services Committee, along with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., proposed a plan to drawdown troop levels by shifting the mission away from combat and avoiding a precipitous withdrawal, which she said would have “catastrophic consequences.”
“As we seek to chart a new course, it is my hope that leaders in both the House and Senate will put aside partisan politics and adopt bipartisan proposals to guide our policy in Iraq,” Collins said.
Allen, who is running against Collins for her Senate seat, said a firm deadline for withdrawal is needed.
While a new course must be drawn abroad, it is equally important to care for the soldiers who return, said Michaud, who serves as chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health. Last year Michaud sponsored the Veterans Health Care Improvement Act. It was passed by the House in July but it has not been voted on in the Senate.
“Great strides have been made over the last couple of years, but there is more that still needs to be done,” Michaud said while assuring veterans he would continue to fight to get them the healthcare and assistance they need “to live the American dream that they gave so much to defend.”
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