Posted on 06/13/2005 9:06:36 AM PDT by robowombat
GOP Congressman Wants Troops Out of Iraq Associated Press June 13, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - A Republican congressman who voted for the Iraq war said Sunday that "we've done about as much as we can do" in the country and that the reason for invading Iraq has proven false.
Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina will be among the lawmakers introducing legislation this week calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops in Iraq.
"When I look at the number of men and women who have been killed - it's almost 1,700 now, in addition to close to 12,000 have been severely wounded - and I just feel that the reason of going in for weapons of mass destruction, the ability of the Iraqis to make a nuclear weapon, that's all been proven that it was never there," Jones said on ABC's "This Week."
President Bush has said any timetable for withdrawal would encourage insurgents to wait for the foreign troops to leave, but Jones said he believed Iraqis can defend their own country.
His stance leaves Jones sided with Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the most prominent Democrat calling for a timetable to leave Iraq. Jones said he had not discussed the issue with Kennedy.
Two years ago, Jones helped lead an effort to make sure Capitol Hill cafeterias retooled their menus to advertise "freedom fries" instead of french fries to protest France's opposition to the war.
Jones said he began changing his mind about the war after attending the funeral in April 2003 for Sgt. Michael Bitz, 31, who was killed in the southern city of Nasiriyah. He recalled that Bitz's widow read the last letter she received from her husband.
"And that really has been on my mind and my heart ever since," he said.
Jones, whose district includes Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point, has written condolence letters to the families of more than 1,300 service people killed in Iraq, and posters outside his congressional office show the faces of those killed.
He won last time with 84%. That means if you can beat him in a primary we still hold the seat. Bye walter.
This is exactly why Americans should be Hawks. See an enemy Kill him.
Bitz, 31, of Ventura, Calif., and Williams, 31, of Yuma, Ariz., were killed March 23 in Nasiriyah by Iraqi soldiers who pretended to surrender, then opened fire when Marines approached.
We don't kill the enemy we either stand there and let them kill us or we feed them rice and chicken.
I wish I had rice and chicken with Islamic menu Vegtables.
Last night I had a horrible chicken sandwich and fries with some syrup in carbonated water, Sprite, from McDonalds.
Absolutely. It amazes me how quickly people lose perspective. We probably lost 1,700 troops in the first couple MINUTES of D-Day!! War stinks and men die, God rest thier souls. I am with Bush on this: we set a timetable and the terrorists will wait, gain strength and strike the minute were out of there. Just like Hamas & Islamic Jihad are probably doing right now with the Isreali / Palestinian cease fire - such as it is.
BS, we didn't get tired of fighting the "good fight" in Vietnam. We were forced out by the MSM and the communists sympathizers in this country who both lied about how we were losing. We were winning, the Tet offensive was the communists last gasp and the MSM convinced people that somehow we were losing and we cut back on the bombing and limited our soldiers to where they could go and what they could do, giving the North time to regroup and reorganize. We withdrew because people like this senator had their heads square up their a**es and simply gave up.
We could have finished that war years before we pulled out if the government had shown some courage. We are going through the same stupid phase with the MSM now as we did then. This time though we have FR and lots of blogs to tell the truth. The MSM will not win this one, we will.
Jones is a true believer, a very principled conservative, a devout Catholic, and also the originator of the phrase "freedom fries" when the French went against us.
He was the congressman standing up for Sgt. (?) Ilario Pantano (sp?) when he faced possible prosecution for killing two Iraqis during action on the ground. He was one of a handful of GOP congressmen who voted against the prescription drug fiasco both times and he and has an ACU lifetime rating of 94. He is the backer of a religious freedom bill that allows churches to endorse political candidates without fear of retribution by the IRS (they always had that freedom before LBJ). He's in his sixth term as a congressman.
The lesson is that a lot of people, including those sympathetic to Bush, are wishing we could get out of Iraq. Support for Bush and support for the war are not univocal -- when you see approval of Iraq getting low, keep in mind that a lot of the people who disapprove are not hostile to Bush at all and would probably vote for him again, but still want out.
Your timeline leaves out Nixon, and his election on the pledge to find peace with honor. He was elected to get us out, and he did by bombing the crap out of the North. We got a peace agreement, and then we got the hell out. When the North invaded in '75 we pulled the few hundred advisors we still had there and we didn't go back.
We could have finished that war years before we pulled out if the government had shown some courage.
If you mean by invading the North I think that would have only invited China directly into the war, and created another stalemate like Korea. Truman didn't bother to try for re-election with his 25% approval rating once the war broadened. If you think a broader war in the Middle East is what we need, I think you want a Democrat president. The GOP better hope GWB can put a pretty face on Iraq by 2008.
We know he thinks he understands, we need to tell him he is Wrong. (I'm this " far away from calling him a putz!)
TT
No I don't about him. Also our Service people are doing a great job. Don't take this away from them. Our guys that fought in Viet Nam won all the battles and lost the war because of the Communists within us, and the media. We are not in a populiality contest to get the world to love us. We don't want the world to take over AMERICA. So don't let our people in uniform down this time. God Bless them all.
Gunslinger, I just call it as I see it. I didn't say I was for it...
So if he's not worried about his own re-election, maybe he's worried about his party retaining the majority?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.