Case visits Iraq with delegation from Congress
By Jaymes Song
Associated Press
U.S. Rep. Ed Case arrived in the Middle East yesterday as part of a six-member congressional delegation to review U.S. military and reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
Case, D-Hawai'i, said the key purposes of the trip are to get a firsthand look at the war-ravaged country, speak with U.S. military leaders and Iraqi citizens and spend time with U.S. troops.
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"We have been confronted with such incredibly difficult decisions in the U.S. Congress regarding Iraq and the Middle East, and I don't think those decisions are going to get any easier," Case said in a teleconference yesterday from Kuwait. "There's a real need to see for myself, as close as I can, what is actually going on."
Case said it's important to find out what the Iraqis desire for their country.
"It doesn't do us much good here if that's not what they want," he said.
The travel plans and exact locations of the delegation are not being disclosed because of security concerns, at the request of the U.S. military.
"Security is a very high concern right now," he said. "Our itinerary is changing as we go based upon what is happening on the ground in Iraq, so I'm not positive what we're going to be doing but we are going to be here traveling inside Iraq."
Suicide bombers launched a series of attacks in Baghdad this week.
Yesterday, explosions set a freight train on fire, killed a U.S. soldier in a military convoy and ripped through Baghdad's Old Quarter, killing two people. Another blast injured two U.S. soldiers on a military police patrol.
U.S. forces are suffering an average of 33 attacks a day — up from about 12 daily attacks in July. A total of 117 American soldiers have been killed in combat since May 1 — when President Bush declared an end to major fighting. A total of 114 soldiers died in the invasion that began March 20.
"To say that I'm not concerned about my personal safety would be putting some bravado on it that I don't feel," Case said. "I know that I'm going into a dangerous place. I know by coming here, the risk of something happening to me is higher than if I was in the United States and Hawai'i. Having said that, I feel very safe. I feel the U.S military is providing a tremendous level of protection."
After touring parts of Iraq, the delegation will travel to Germany where it will meet with business and military leaders from Germany and the United States. Case said he will return to Washington, D.C., around the middle of next week.
Case said it is important to get the reconstruction done in Iraq quickly.
"That gets the country back on its feet. That gives us the ability to turn it back over to the Iraqis in good shape. It gets our troops out," he said. "We don't want to be here long term. That is not what our national interest is."
