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."
LOL
wow I see a Perouted supporter....
I see black helicopters in your future....
We pull out and the ChiComs will move in to control Mideast oil. Working with Iran to enforce a twenty dollar surcharge on all US bound oil from the Mideast
They are very tight with Iran these days. Doing trade deals and perhaps selling very fine weaponry to them.
The oil for weaponry program. Iran has the oil China wants. What does China have that Iran wants?
And your numbers are full of crap...
It was about $100 Billion in 2004, but that was what was allocated. I am pretty sure not all of that was spent.
This only gave more fuel to the anti-war activists. They sensed a crack in the conservative consciousness . . . and they re-doubled their traitorous onslaught.
The military didn't lost the Vietnam War . . . WE DID. WE the American People.
If the folks of North Carolina only supported the War Effort because they thought it would be quick and virtually painless . . . then they weren't true supporters in the first place. I'm happy to say I don't believe MOST North Carolinians are going wobbly on the war. War is a nasty business and I think MOST North Carolinians . . . if they take the time to think about our options . . . will be willing to stick it out.
WE ONLY HAVE ONE CHOICE ON THIS WAR . . . where it is fought. Our enemies declared this war and we only have a choice as to whether we fight it on their streets are on our home turf.
Do you think for a second that Osama-Mama will call off his band of terrorist-murderers if we leave Iraq? Hell no . . . he'll simply import them to the U.S. Just like he did on 9-11.
We can go wobbly and turn-tail and run . . . then we'll be fighting the war on our own streets, from our own homes, while our own children are dying. Ask any Israeli how much fun that is.
By the way . . . thanks for your service. You and the others like you are THE reason we're the greatest country the world's ever known.
I just posted one for you....
You really shouldnt combine federal spending from year to year in these terms. And as I stated, a lot of the reconstruction money hasnt even been spent yet.
To the contrary, we have a second choice in this war: HOW it is fought.
Dubyah has chosen the Marquis de Queensbury/Christian Gentleman's approach. I'm saying there are other approaches.
nah...
I am not sending crap to a no-name representative that I cant even vote against. That is all this idiot wants anyway is attention. Maybe he, like Gingrich, thinks that bashing the President can up his own chances to run for the Oval Office. Isn't he dreaming!!!!
Oops, you misspelled his email address. It is actually:
Coward.coble@mail.house.gov
Unless you're from his district and can prove it with a valid address, I doubt it would do much good. In fact, it probably won't even get read.
the Dubyah crowd
just quit. You arent going to convince anyone and you are sounding like a kerry supporter when you are whining about our chances of winning.
We could argue about the question of "innocence" until the cows come home [my position would be that the women of the Koran are not nearly so "innocent" as their apologists would have you believe]
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