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WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007--In response to yesterday’s House of Representatives vote to bring the majority of the troops home from Iraq by April 1, the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is urging Congress to be patient as the ongoing strategy of military, diplomatic and economic initiatives continues to unfold in Iraq.
“The September assessment report by Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker is the key, not yesterday’s interim report card,” said VFW Commander-in-Chief Gary Kurpius, a Vietnam veteran from Anchorage, Alaska
The House vote was prompted by yesterday morning’s White House release of an Initial Benchmark Assessment Report that indicated that only eight of 18 security, political and economic benchmarks were being met. Congress had added the 18 benchmarks to the 2007 emergency war funding package as a condition of passage.
“The final contingent of combat forces just arrived in-theater last month, and the ‘civilian surge’ of 300 Provincial Reconstruction Team members is only halfway complete, yet now, only two months after Congress set the conditions for success, some are ready to pull the plug and admit failure,” said Kurpius.
“Democracy is something that America has been working on for 231 years,” he said, “yet we expect overnight success from a people who are as inexperienced with freedom as Americans would be under a dictatorship. The Iraqis have significant challenges ahead, yet they want to succeed, and they know they need America’s help.”
The interim report indicated that progress was being made in military and security initiatives, even though security remained complex and extremely challenging due to external interference from two neighboring states — Iran and Syria — who are training and equipping the extremists and suicide bombers, or allowing them to enter Iraq through their country. The 10 benchmarks that did not receive satisfactory marks were primarily on political and economic issues that remain hindered by internal sectarian and ethnic differences and distrust.
The House measure passed 223-201. The proposal would begin withdrawing combat forces in 120 days, and eventually pull virtually all U.S. forces out of Iraq by April 1.
Kurpius said an artificial withdrawal timeline will only inflame the situation in Iraq.
“No one disputes that Iraq will be a bloodbath and the entire region will be in chaos if the Americans pull out prematurely, yet that’s exactly what some want because they’re saying this war is too hard on America,” he said.
“This war isn’t hard on America, this war is hard on the seventh-tenths of one percent of the American population who wear the uniform, and their families,” said Kurpius.
“This war is hard on them because of repeated deployments, because of the slow progress on the non-military side, and because they are under the constant barrage of self-proclaimed experts who question their every move. Yet they soldier on, just like generations of Americans have before them. They soldier on because they want to win their war — they deserve to win — and all they’re asking from us is for a little time and patience. We owe them that much.”
The full 25-page Initial Benchmark Assessment Report can be accessed on the White House website here.
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