NY25 Rep Walsh To Push For Troop Withdrawal

"I think we need to let the president know that if he doesn't start taking troops out, then Congress will use the power of the purse to do it."

- U.S. Congressman James Walsh (R-NY)

Walsh says U.S. must cut troops in Iraq
Posted by Mark Weiner September 10, 2007 11:01PM
Syracuse.com/Syracuse Post Standard

After months of wavering in his support for the war in Iraq, Rep. James Walsh said Monday he now favors a gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops and will support votes in Congress to force the issue.

Walsh, R-Onondaga, said he made his decision to part ways with President Bush and other Republicans after visiting troops in Iraq over the weekend, his first trip since 2003.

"Things have not changed substantially in Iraq," Walsh said after returning to Washington Monday. "It's a very, very dangerous place, if not the most dangerous place on Earth. Governance is a serious issue. They are stumbling toward democracy."

Walsh said he saw some progress, but too little, while visiting Baghdad and an American military hospital in Balad, about 60 miles to the north. He was part of a five-member congressional delegation that visited the country Saturday and Sunday.

"What occurred to me while I was in Iraq is that it's time," Walsh said. "We've done enough. No country has done more than we have for Iraq. The question I kept coming up with is how much do we have to give Iraq to make things work? I think we have given enough."

Walsh said he plans to share his thoughts with President Bush, who in May met privately with him in the White House to discuss the war.

Walsh was part of a group of 11 Republican moderates who told the president their support for the war would not last beyond September unless they saw significant progress.

"I think we need to let the president know that if he doesn't start taking troops out, then Congress will use the power of the purse to do it," Walsh said Monday, adding he hoped to sign on to a bipartisan bill that would set a date for a gradual draw down.

"We need to start reducing our troops," he said. "These guys have done everything we asked them to do, over and over again. They are absolutely brilliant. And it's unbelievably hostile conditions there."




Walsh spoke about his decision on the same day the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus, delivered a progress report to members of the House of Representatives. Petraeus asked Congress to wait six months before making decisions about redeploying the largest numbers of American troops.

"I heard Petraeus," Walsh said. "I agree with much of what he says. But his focus is the military. And as I've said many times before, this will require a political, not a military, solution."

Walsh said a phased withdrawal of troops would send a signal to the Iraqi government that it needs to begin getting its political house in order.

"The big question is whether the Sunni and Shia can get a deal," he said. "I think they can. But the Shia government needs to be pressured by us. And I think the way to do that is to start bringing our troops home."

He added, "That's the message we have to give to the Iraqis. You've got to find a way to power-share and begin to reconcile with the Sunnis."

Walsh said he was discouraged by the lack of progress he saw on several fronts in Iraq. He declined to identify the other members of the delegation, which he said included one Democrat.

Walsh said a power plant in southern Baghdad that he toured in 2003 is still producing an inadequate amount of electricity, virtually unchanged from his last visit.

"The electrical power generation is not a success story," he said. "That was four years ago and they're at the same level of power generation. That's very, very disturbing."

On Sunday, the delegation met with reconstruction teams that included officials from the State Department and Army Corps of Engineers.

At that meeting, Walsh said one military officer told the House members: "Don't give the Iraqi government any more money for reconstruction. They have enough. They have plenty."

Walsh said that assessment is not what he hears in Congress.

"Apparently, the money we provided is in the hands of the Iraqi ministers and they control it," he said. "That may be the single most important information I got on the trip."

A sand storm over Baghdad forced the delegation's C-130 to circle for two hours before diverting to Balad, forcing the group to miss a planned meeting with Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the second-ranking U.S. general in Iraq, and Sunni political leaders.

Later, the delegation traveled by Humvee with Army troops to visit a joint security station in Baghdad's Khark neighborhood, which includes the markets along Haifa Street. Walsh said he believes the delegation was taken there because it was a "success story." Still, he said, the delegation had to wear helmets and body armor.