Boozman says Iraq avoiding civil war
Posted on Tuesday, August 22, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/164251/
WASHINGTON — Just back from his fifth visit to Iraq, Rep. John Boozman said Monday he didn’t see that country slipping into civil war — at least not yet.
“People over there don’t feel like they are in all-out civil war,” the Republican congressman from Arkansas’ 3 rd Congressional District said in a telephone interview.
Boozman traveled to Iraq last week with other members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and Jim Nicholson, secretary of veterans affairs. He returned over the weekend. The congressman spent one day in Kuwait, two days in Iraq and one day at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the largest American hospital overseas.
President Bush, in a news conference Monday, acknowledged the ongoing war was “straining the psyche of our country” but warned that abandoning Iraq would mean “we will have lost our soul as a nation.”
Boozman said that instead of just talking about getting Iraqis to handle their own security, American officials were now getting them to do so. More than 269, 000 Iraqis have been trained, he said.
“Nobody can do this but the Iraqis themselves,” Boozman said.
Iraqi officials recognize they must secure their homeland and polls indicate Iraqi citizens want U. S. forces to leave, but not right away. Getting more and more Iraqis into the field, Boozman said, is what’s going to bring Americans home more quickly. That job is being accomplished at a faster clip, he added.
One purpose of the trip, he said, was to reassure the troops that their country was behind them, despite news reports they may see about debate over Iraq. The attitude he observed among the troops continued to be “real positive,” Boozman said, and he rejected suggestions that Iraq had become a quagmire for Americans.
“I don’t see that,” he said.
The Arkansas Republican said U. S. military officials were hesitant to set a timeline for leaving the country.
But, overall, Boozman said, “I feel like we very definitely have an exit strategy.”
While he didn’t see a civil war yet, Boozman acknowledged that insurgents were doing all they could to foment one in Iraq.
“I would argue the possibility exists that they will descend into civil war,” he said.
Adding to problems is the large number of criminals roaming the streets of Iraqi cities, he said. “They have a huge gang problem.”
Numerous political problems remain as well, he said, adding that Iraqis must set up what is tantamount to a federal system.
How the oil wealth will be divided among the provinces is another major hurdle, Boozman said.
“They’ve got some real things to get settled.”
What most Iraqis still want, he said, “is a strong country with minority rights protected.”