Thompson: Bush speech missed the point
By James Faulk, The Times-Standard
Democratic Congressman Mike Thompson of St. Helena listened to the president's speech Tuesday and came away wanting.
Thompson, who voted against the war in 2003, described a different Iraq than the one put before the American people by President George Bush. He described a nation with poor electrical services, long gas lines and little economic opportunity. It's a country, he said, that suffers from between 30 and 70 insurgent attacks a day.
For the good of the Iraqi people and to advance peace in the region, Thompson said the president needs to declare that the United States does not intend to keep a permanent military base in Iraq.
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"We clearly need to set free the Iraqi people," Thompson said. "I don't think we can do that as long as we're there. We need to move as quickly as we can to make sure the Iraqi people are in charge of their country and not the United States. The last thing we need to do is provide even a hint that we're occupiers."
Bush, during his Tuesday speech, said, "After September 11, I made a commitment to the American people: This nation will not wait to be attacked again. We will defend our freedom. We will take the fight to the enemy."
He later pointed out, however, the attacks have continued outside Iraq and Afghanistan, in places like Madrid, Istanbul, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Bali and elsewhere. So have we really taken the fight to the enemy?
"If you take it on face value, I agree with him," Thompson said.
Going into Afghanistan was doing just that, Thompson said. Taking on the Taliban was a move he supported, but there has yet to be a credible link made between the attacks of Sept. 11 and Iraq. That was where we got sidetracked, he said.
"There's absolutely no link that (proves) Iraq had anything to do with the attack on this country on Sept. 11," he said.
Rather, facts were ignored and embellished to make the case for war with Iraq. Thompson stopped short of accusing Bush of purposefully misleadling the American people by saying those facts will come out in time.
But even if the case was made with the best of intentions, the execution of the war plan has been flawed from the beginning, he said.
Regardless, we're there now, Thompson said. What this country needs is a plan for how to get out, achieve success and get troops home.
"Those are the things that needed to be addressed," he said.
Once the Iraqis and many of the insurgents know that the United States has no permanent designs on power in Iraq, violence and resentment may decrease, he said.
"We need to train the requisite number of Iraqi security forces," he said. "We're woefully behind in that now."
Thompson said he's heard figures in the 7,000 to 10,000 range for the number of properly trained Iraqi troops who could handle the duties currently handled by the American military. We need much more, he said.
"The president needs to outline for the American people how we're going to do that," he said. "The Iraqi people need to have a reason for being a part of the military force. They need to have a reason to believe that freedom is important, that they should fight for it and even die for it."
It's hard to do that when you put together an Iraqi security force that is underpaid and undertrained, he said.
"The country needs some hope," Thompson said. "They need some vision of what freedom is."
As for recent attacks by Karl Rove against liberals and their response to Sept. 11, 2001, Thompson was clear.
"I think that anybody who uses Sept. 11 for political purposes is a shameful individual," he said. |
