The truth about Iraq

November 12, 2003
The Truth About Iraq
By Representative Marsha Blackburn (TN-7th)

It is impossible to prepare for a trip to Iraq. The heat, the sight of bombed buildings, the sand that covers everything, the smells, and the eyes of a people who are just beginning to experience freedom for the first time are overwhelming to the senses. It is the Iraqi people as both individuals and as a nation that I will remember the most.

At a Baghdad police station I shook hands with each of the 25 Iraqi women who composed the first graduating class of female police officers in the history of Iraq. This was not only a first for Iraq, it was also the first job any of these women had ever had. I will never forget the way they ran their fingers across the lettering on my business card. I was their new friend from the free world.

Iraq is taking baby steps toward freedom and they will need America to serve as a guide. Our nation so young in history will help an ancient land be free. This is a truly wonderful thing. We know that free capitalist nations do not attack one another. In Iraq our military efforts and our humanitarian work contribute to a better and safer world for all Americans.

Adults in Iraq have really never known life without Saddam Hussein. They watched as family, friends, and neighbors disappeared over the years to Saddam's torture chambers. Fortunately, the very small children retain their innocence.

In Mosul, we spent time at a women's center where I learned that women in Iraq comprise 65 percent of the population, with a 70 percent illiteracy rate.

I remember one little girl in particular who watched as we prepared for a photo at a women's center. I motioned the child over to us and put her in the photo with us. As she plunked herself down on my knee and pulled my arms around her I choked back tears and held her tight. This girl will grow up in freedom because of America. Her memories won't include Saddam Hussein, but instead how the American members of the 101st Airborne brought her freedom.

In Baghdad, days before the bombing, I spent time at the Al Rashid hotel and at a city hospital. The message from the hotel staff and the Iraqi officials to us as members of Congress and ambassadors from the free world was a simple -- don't leave us now. The people who lined the streets as we passed to wave and cheer the Americans sent the same message -- we are thankful and we will not forget.

Our men and women in uniform went to Iraq to defeat terrorism so that we might live without the fear of another day like September 11th when more than 3,000 Americans were murdered on our own soil.

Our soldiers are so young and brave, and so confident this mission will change the world for the better. America's troops went to Iraq to change the Iraqi people, but as I talked with them about their lives, their hopes and dreams, it was clear that Iraq has changed them as well. America's veterans will understand this the most, for they too risked their lives to free nations and protect America. They too were changed by their experiences.

Everyday we are closing the circle and tightening the noose--literally and figuratively-- around the remnant of Saddam's regime and the terrorists. Each day that we destroy 100 tons of ammunitions and weapons, stabilize more villages, and train additional Iraqi security forces is a day closer to a free and democratic nation. We have already trained more than 50,000 Iraqis to protect their nation against the terrorist insurgents seeking to return the nation to Saddam Hussein. The new Iraqi army has trained one battalion and will have another 27 in place by next spring.

When you are on the ground in Iraq, you see the progress of the Iraqi Governing Council, the ministry heads, and the constitution writing committee. These men and women readily accept the task of setting their country back on a firm footing and see it as their duty to work quickly and fairly, assessing the progress and taking the setbacks in stride. They know the coalition authority is here to assist them as they rebuild their infrastructure, get their asphalt plants, their cement plants, their water plants and their power plants back in place. They know that once this is in place, that the coalition will help them 'prime the pump' of their economy and become a productive nation.

When the objection to the war in Iraq is cost, it is important to view cost from a historical perspective. WWI cost America 24 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Following the war we loaned Germany money to rebuild and they were crushed under a debt load twice their GDP. WWII and Hitler were products of a Germany unable to repay loans. WWII cost us 130 percent of our GDP and taught us a valuable lesson. We provided grants to rebuild Europe and Japan. Today both are strong allies and defenders of freedom.

The war in Iraq and the war on terrorism are costing us less than one percent of the GDP.

Stabilizing Iraq and fighting terrorism where it has its roots is a wise move for the entire free world and it will save us enormously in the future.

When I was in the control room of the 101st Airborne in Mosul,

I could not help but notice a sign posted by General David Petreaus -- it said, "We are in a race to win over the people. What have you and your element done today to contribute to victory?" That is the question that each member of congress, each reporter, and each American should ask themselves every day. Our military men and women--and their families-- deserve our support, the Iraqi people deserve their chance at making a democratic society work. When freedom takes hold and Iraq is stabilized, we will be looking into the eyes of an ally.

U.S. making progress in Iraq, Blackburn says
By James W. Brosnan
Contact reporter
October 28, 2003

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., met with Iraqi and U.S. officials for dinner at the Al Rasheed Hotel about 60 hours before the hotel was attacked.

Blackburn, whose district includes part of Shelby County, also visited the Iraqi police academy, meeting with female graduates, but she said Monday she didn't know whether any of them were killed or injured in the latest bombings that targeted three police stations.

Blackburn said she came away from Iraq convinced that the U.S. is making progress in bringing stability and democracy to the country in spite of the recent attacks.

"The tighter they pull that net around the remaining resistance from Saddam Hussein's army, the more they're going to act like a caged animal," Blackburn said.

Blackburn was among a group of eight female members of the House who visited Iraq on Thursday and Friday, although they spent their nights in Kuwait.

Blackburn said she was not surprised at hearing about the attack on the hotel after they left Iraq.

Blackburn said the most encouraging part of the visit was their trip to Mosul in an area dominated by the Kurds, who were oppressed by Saddam.

"When we rolled through the streets of Mosul, we were greeted by kids with thumbs up, waving at us," Black burn said.

The area is under the command of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky. Blackburn said she met with troops from the division as well as members of a Tennessee National Guard military police unit whose duty has been extended.

She said the Guardsmen are concerned about being away from their jobs and families but that "the morale over there is great. It really is."

Bugger20 -- please read the Terms of Agreement.

Who knows. He never actually attrributes what he posts, and often heavily edits them so that anything that would go contrary to his "message" isn't there to raise questions. He probably found it somewhere and excised anything "inconvenient." He isn't intelligent enough to have made it up on his own.

Good posts, HobbitBob & Walter. And all the others who see this farce for what it is.

Percerption, I'm sure you see this as vindication for some of the things you see as true. I hope you understand that many of us see it as baloney.

But just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder -- so to are perceptions on how a war is going.

Would that be the freedom to be shot by US troops randomly, harassed at checkpoints, and continuously reminded that you are subject to the qwhims of half educated 19 year olds?

So, we are supposed to forget that there have been women in the workforce in Iraq since the 1950s? Are we also supposed to forget that many of them were physicians, attorneys, professors, etc...?
BTW, how many of these police officers have been killed for collaborating with the invaders?

Because the US is so accomplished at installing democracy, right? Never mind that it deposed the democratically elected ruler of neighboring Iran and installed its puppet Pahlavi, or that it supported the Hussein regime in Iraq.

Now they can look forward to imprisonment and torture from the US. What a plus.

I would love to see evidence supporting this comment. It sounds false.

And as she grows up, will surely treasure memories of relatives killed by the occupation forces, if she isn't herself killed.

And the continuing attacks show the Iraqis will not forget their "liberators" anytime soon.

Would that be the same 3000 citizens of at least 50 nations who were killed by Saudis? Gullibility, thy name is American.

Especially those killed, and the wounded who are receiving no support for their injuries. How about military families, that are suffering. But fear not, the rich are getting tax cuts. I guess that makes everything OK, yes?

The noose we are tightening is around our own necks. "Collaborators" are routinely shot. There is no sign of a democratic Iraq.

This would be the same group of exiles, many of whom haven't set foot in the country in 30 years, who are most of them fleeing indictment for frud and larceny in many nations. Rebuilding contracts have gone to US companies that refuse to do any work until it is "safe," and efforts by the CPA to assume the role of a real government is always quashed by Bremer, the US colonial governor.

And as strong defenders of freedom, refused to participate in this act of the rape of another country.

Think of how much mre would have been saved had Bush not pushed the country into his private war!

But instead, we invaded Iraq.

More likely we have created a bnation sized recruiting base for anti US terror. Way to go Bush. Osama's little helper!

Frank Apisa wrote:

Good posts, HobbitBob & Walter. And all the others who see this farce for what it is.

Percerption, I'm sure you see this as vindication for some of the things you see as true. I hope you understand that many of us see it as baloney.

But just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder -- so to are perceptions on how a war is going.

I wouldn't mind if perceptions were as far as it goes but it's the "intent" of some of you folks that really worries me. This isn't just about Bush failing---it's about this country failing in Iraq. The way I see it failure is not an option because the consequences would be devastating to the world----I say again "FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION".