Bush didn't tell us we would be in Iraq for five years.
Senators Say Five Years in Iraq Is Realistic
Mon June 23, 2003 10:46 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. senators from both major parties said on Monday American soldiers may need to remain in Iraq for at least five years.
The senators, on a fact-finding mission to Iraq, also said President Bush needed to be more truthful with Americans about the breadth of the commitment and the cost required to rebuild Iraq.
"There now needs to be real truth-telling by the president and by each of us..." Republican Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.
Referring to the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, he said "at least a five-year plan in my judgment is required."
Lugar was traveling with Senator Joseph Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who is also on the committee.
"I think we're going to be here in a big way with forces and economic input for a minimum of three to five years," Biden said.
"I don't think we've fully informed the American people about just what an undertaking this is," he said, adding that the reconstruction effort would require billions of dollars beyond what Iraq can produce from its oil industry.
The three senators said in interviews with U.S. television networks that it was essential the fate of Saddam Hussein and his sons should be known soon. Not knowing his whereabouts was a destabilizing force in Iraq and one of the root causes of recent attacks against U.S. soldiers and acts of sabotage, they said.
Nineteen U.S. soldiers have been killed in a spate of deadly assaults since Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq over on May 1.
"There are Iraqis who believe he's going to return. There are people who are involved in the sabotage we've already reported, as well as attacks on Americans who feel the war is not over," Lugar said.
(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming) |
