Posted on 01/09/2005 8:29:35 AM PST by Mike Fieschko
U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, dean of the state's congressional delegation and an avowedly strong supporter of President Bush, says it's time for the United States to consider withdrawing from war-ravaged Iraq.Coble, a Republican from Greensboro, is one of the first members of Congress -- Republican or Democrat -- to say publicly that the United States should consider a pullout.
The 10-term congressman, head of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, said he is "fed up with picking up the newspaper and reading that we've lost another five or 10 of our young men and women in Iraq."
Coble said he has noticed a shift among his constituents in the 6th Congressional District regarding their feelings about the war. Letters, phone calls and messages that had been overwhelmingly supportive of the war are now about even, his office said.
Coble, however, said most of his constituents still strongly support America's involvement in the war, as he does, and believe the United States invaded Iraq for the right reasons.
Nevertheless, Coble said a troop withdrawal should be an option if the Iraqi government is unable or unwilling to "shoulder more of the heavy lifting" for its own security.
There has been little or no indication that the Iraqi government can do that, he said.
"What we have are Iraqis killing Iraqis and American troops," Coble said. "All I'm saying is that a troop withdrawal ought to be an option. It ought to be placed on the table for consideration."
Coble said he is seriously considering raising the issue of a troop withdrawal with his subcommittee, although he acknowledged the panel might not be the forum for it.
"I'm going to keep talking about this," he said.
Coble said he is aware that few members of Congress have said openly that the country should consider withdrawing from Iraq.
Republican Rep. James A. Leach of Iowa may be the only other GOP congressman to call for a pullout, he said. Leach said on the House floor more than a year ago that the United States should complete a withdrawal that would be complete by the end of 2004.
Although many Democratic congressman have sharply criticized the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, as well as its conduct of the war, most say the United States must now stay until the Iraqi government is strong enough to defend itself.
Only Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination, called for a U.S. troop withdrawal to be accomplished in 90 days.
Coble said he arrived at his position only after many months of searching in vain for evidence that the Bush administration had a post-invasion strategy to deal with the transition to Iraqi self-government. Insurgent violence against Iraqi security forces and Americans has increased as the Jan. 30 date for the country's national elections draws closer.
Coble, one of the most popular Republicans in North Carolina, has represented the 6th Congressional District, which touches counties from Alamance to Rowan, since 1984. He was interviewed last week not long after he learned that Iraqi insurgents had assassinated the governor of Baghdad and that five more Americans had been killed in combat.
Their deaths, and the deaths of other U.S. soldiers in Iraq, occurred a little more than a week after 18 Americans were killed and dozens were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded mess tent near Mosul in one of the deadliest attacks against Americans since the beginning of the war.
They were among the more than 1,200 Americans killed since U.S. forces first occupied Baghdad in May 2003, when Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The number includes at least 886 killed since U.S. forces captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Dec. 13, 2003. According to figures compiled by Coble's office, 31 military men and women from North Carolina had died in Iraq as of Dec. 11, and 279 had been wounded.
Coble was part of the overwhelming majority of the members of Congress who voted Oct. 12, 2002, to approve a war-powers resolution allowing Bush to attack Iraq if he decided it was necessary. Coble said he thought then that Bush was correct in attacking Iraq, and that he still believes it was the right decision.
"We've done a lot of good over there," Coble said, "and you don't read much about that in the mainstream media."
Mainly, the United States captured Saddam, "the international terrorist, the tyrant, the snake," he said.
But Coble voted to grant Bush the sweeping war-making powers believing that the administration had a "post-invasion strategy." Apparently, there was none, he said.
"If there was, I wish someone would tell me what it is or show it to me," he said. "I'd like to see it."
Coble said that if he had known there was no post-invasion strategy at the time of the vote on the war-powers resolution he would have "insisted that we keep our powder dry while we do some probing and planning."
Coble said he simply assumed that the administration had a post-invasion plan.
"There was never any question that we could whip their butt," he said. "The question was what were we going to do after that.
"Obviously, somebody was asleep at the planning table."
Coble noted last week that he was outspoken in his criticism of the Bush administration's post-invasion plan, or the lack of one, during his re-election campaign.
Coble, a former Coast Guard officer who saw duty in hostile waters during the Korean War, is known as an astute politician quick to respond to the moods and needs of his constituents.
He said he began to detect a shift among people in his district about the war as early as March. Mail that had expressed overwhelming support for the war was then running only slightly in favor. Coble's office said last week that the 700 letters, calls and messages about the war received this year have been split almost evenly for and against it.
Coble said he believes most people in his district feel as he does about the war in Iraq.
"They believe we were right to go there, and they strongly support our troops," he said, "but they are getting increasingly tired of our young men and women getting killed every day.
"We got rid of Saddam the snake. Now it's time to let the Iraqis take care of the snake pit."
NC ping
I feel I'm with Coble on this one. Unless President bush admits to, and goes forward with, a complete return to Manifest Destiny, then the Iraqi's should do a little more in their own country. I had a perfectly decent seeming boyfriend go to Iraq for a few months and come back liking John Kerry! The horror!
Sounds like one hell of a forward thinker there. Yup, just pull out, let Zarqawi and Bin Laden take over the country, that's a good idea. Sure will help inspire the Iranians, and send a clear message that we're paper tigers! Not to mention that it will make the sacrifices of our soldiers all in vain.
We can't take any pain, yell it from the rooftops!
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
I just hate quitters like this sorry congresscritter. For shame!
He is a pure politician!
U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, dean of the state's congressional delegation and an avowedly strong supporter of President Bush, says it's time for the United States to consider withdrawing from war-ravaged Iraq.
The so-called Congressional black caucus is a clown college.
Ted Kennedy questioning Alberto Gonzales about water torture is a farce.
If I were Mr. Gonzales I would say srew the job and reply......
"Senator Kennedy, does leaving a young woman in a submerged car for 10 hours to drown qualify you as an expert in water torture?"
I definitely would have destroyed that fat pos on the spot!!
Sad to say, this buffoon is from my state and a Republican to boot. Unfortunately, he's not in my district or I'd have the privilege of voting against him in the next election.
Well there's the problem, right there! When did he start channeling Howard Dean?
President Bush is already considering a US withdrawal from
Iraq....at the right time.
Coble, a professional pol for at least 20 years, seems to
be saying we should pull out at the WRONG time, abandon the
objective of a free Irag and let over a 1,000 U.S. military
deaths go for naught, waste, vapor.
Truly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
How can anyone be for the wrong decision?
He's a politician, and he obvously believes his job is in danger and that the BURNING ISSUE of his future employment should outweigh the losses and the gains in Iraq.
He can be contacted here: howard.coble@mail.house.gov
Let's see if some emails might make him remember the stakes and how best to please his consituency.
Pulling out of Iraq now would be foolish. The radical Zarqawi-types would end up taking over the country, and we'd not only be handing a new training ground to Al Qaida, but we'd also be giving the world's second largest oil reserve to Osama bin Laden. Until the population of Iraq, which is majority Shia, is able to run their country without help (and that's going to take some time) we cannot abandon them. Until they stand up a government with effective security and rule of law, we're there, period.
Coble = political garbage.
First, Lindsey Graham channels Hillary Clinton while questioning Gonzales, and now this old coot shoots off his mouth about withdrawal from Iraq.
Lots of egos suddenly jumping into the fray.
TELL THAT TO THE TROOPS AND THE IRAQI PEOPLE!
Washington DC Office Email Howard Coble:
howard.coble@mail.house.gov
2468 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3306
This politician is NUTS!
This is politics at its worst. US Rep. Coble also happens to be the Chairman on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. He voted against the sweeping 911 Bill because it did not prohibit states from issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. In his current capacity as chairman of this committee, and given his military background, he has to know how ill-advised a pullout in Iraq would be right now. It would send the wrong message to terrorists that America doesn't have the stomach to see this war to its logical and necessary conclusion.
I too am a North Carolinian, but also not in his district. We need to find someone to run against him.
I understand your position. After all, the task in Iraq is difficult and only the Greatest Generation would have had the strength and character to deal with that task. We it seems, the generations following the Greatest, are not made of such stern stuff.
If Coble is depressed about the headlines now, he would have died a million cowardly deaths reading WWII headlines. Example, we lost 400,000 military personal in that war. WWII began in late 1941 and ended middle 1945. Approximately 300 US soldiers, Marines, sailors and pilots died a day, a simple average calculation. There wasn't even a glimmer of victory until July of 1944. On D-Day we lost about 8,000 soldiers. In the Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 1944 - Jan. 1945) we suffered 80,000 casualties in a period of 5-6 weeks. That is only the European Theater. Do you have any idea of the losses the Navy and the Marines suffered in the Pacific Theater?
The goal of the US is to change the political environment in the Mideast to ensure future hope in an area of the world that will have nucluear weapons. That is a messy assignment. Judging by Coble's statement we neither have the will nor the character to do that.
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