When Rep. Jan Schakowsky made her first trip to Iraq this month, the outspoken antiwar liberal resolved to keep her opinions to herself. "I would listen and learn," she decided.
At times that proved a challenge, as when Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told her congressional delegation, "There's not going to be political reconciliation by this September; there's not going to be political reconciliation by next September." Schakowsky gulped -- wasn't that the whole idea of President Bush's troop increase, to buy time for that political progress?
But the real test came over a lunch with Gen. David H. Petraeus, who used charts and a laser pointer to show how security conditions were gradually improving -- evidence, he argued, that the troop increase is doing some good.
Still, the U.S. commander cautioned, it could take another decade before real stability is at hand. Schakowsky gasped. | "I come from an environment where people talk nine to 10 months," she said, referring to the time frame for withdrawal that many Democrats are advocating. "And there he was, talking nine to 10 years." |
"I come from an environment where people talk nine to 10 months," she said, referring to the time frame for withdrawal that many Democrats are advocating. "And there he was, talking nine to 10 years."
Seated at the Venus (Chicago restaraunt), her white notebook in front of her, Schakowsky recounted some of the day's more vivid images. The irony of having to wear body armor to a meeting of Sunni and Shiite leaders to discuss their progress in working together. The creepy feeling when she examined the improvised explosive devices used to devastating effect against U.S. soldiers, from crude models activated by cellphones to sophisticated Iranian designs that Schakowsky described as "sleek copper bowls." The blasts of a simulated raid by Iraqi soldiers on a terrorism suspect's house. And the stifling heat that felt "like a hair dryer on the back of your neck."
But it wasn't just Republicans who came away impressed after visiting Iraq. Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) announced that he will no longer support a timetable for withdrawal, warning of a "potentially catastrophic effect" on the region.
Schakowsky acknowledged that the military's presentation may have been effective. "If you took the briefings at their face value, without context, without bringing anything to it -- clearly they were trying to present that positive spin, and that's what [other lawmakers] took away from it."
In other words, she didn't learn anything. More at link. |