Chat With House Republicans Returning From Iraq

Later today, I'll be participating in a conference call with Republican Congressmen who spent their April district work week in Iraq.  On the call will be Rep. Joe Wilson (SC), chairman of the Victory in Iraq Caucus (returning from his 5th trip to Iraq) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Chairwoman of the International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia (returning from her second trip).

The Members will "discuss the situation on the ground and report on their interactions with the troops."  I'm looking forward to salving the unchallenged distortions lately peddled by their crepehanging colleagues.

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Update:  The call has just ended.

There was a slight roster change and the bloggers were joined by Rep. Joe Wilson (SC) and Rep. Mike Conaway (TX).

Rep. Conaway, who just returned from Iraq on Friday, reported a distinct change since his visit last summer.  On his previous trip, he was shadowed by armed escorts at all times.  On this trip, security was far lighter and he was among the first groups to be accommodated overnight at the Embassy.  What remained constant was the morale and determination of the troops he encountered, who he characterized as being "convinced they were doing the right thing the right way."

We spent much of the call discussing the disparity between conditions in Iraq (high morale among the troops, progress building infrastructure and training Iraqi military and police, quality of life improvements) and the media-driven perception of such conditions here at home.  Milblogger CJ Grisham asked whether U.S. military leaders in Iraq are frustrated by this disparity and if they have offered any plans to help narrow the media's reality gap.

Conaway reported that our soldiers, from high-ranking officers on down through the rank-and-file are indeed frustrated, but that it's an uphill battle when "the other side has better graphics".  He likened the preference for school bombings over school openings to local news coverage in America, which tends to lead with car wrecks and train derailments.

I asked the Congressmen to respond to two of the more outlandish, unsupported statistics slung so rabidly by Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) at the Manhattan townhall meeting I posted on last week.  Specifically, Murtha had claimed that 1) 80% of Iraqis say they'd be better off with the U.S. out of the country (as distinct from a real poll that showed 80% of Iraqis favored establishing a timetable for withdrawal) and 2) that given the current trajectory, we can expect conditions to be no better one year from now.

Rep. Conaway and Rep. Wilson both rejected these claims.  Conaway acknolwedged that the majority of Iraqis want the U.S. to withdraw in time (as do we all), but that 80% favoring immediate withdrawal is incorrect.  Rep. Wilson said he felt that the majority of Iraqis would disagree with rapid withdrawal, noting that while sovereignty is of obvious importance to them, it would make no sense to trade a U.S. presence for unrestricted civil war, sectarian violence, or a totalitarian regime.  Congressman Wilson drew a parallel between U.S. efforts to rebuild Japan and Germany in order to forestall them becoming breeding grounds for communists, just as we are now rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan (by leaps and bounds better than before, I would add) to forestall them becoming breeding grounds for terrorists.

As for measurable improvements in ground conditions and quality of life, the Congressmen pointed out several key metrics and observations:

• Per IMF forecasts, Iraq should see GDP growth of 10.4% this year (3x as fast as the U.S. and 10x as fast as France)
• 32,000 new businesses have been created since liberation
• Iraq has roughly 5 million cellular subscribers (up from near zero pre-liberation)
• The stock market has reopened and the currency has stabilized
• Satellite dishes, illegal under Saddam, are now atop virtually every house

The Congressmen seemed to feel that one key lingering impediment to more rapid improvement in infrastructural items like garbage, water, electricity, and mass transit is the continued lack of a permanent government.  Once the temporary ministers and other leaders are replaced by officials with 4-year elected terms, they argue, many of these public projects that help grease the wheels of commerce (and, I would note, diminsh the impetus for unrest) will come online faster.

While Reps. Wilson and Conaway were clearly disappointed a permanent government had not yet taken over, Wilson noted that it's a good thing there were no satellite news trucks covering the mess that was our Constitutional Convention.  Further, he stated his confidence that Iraq would have their governmental ducks in a row far faster than the 13 years the United States treaded in fledgling democratic limbo between independence and a ratified Constitution.

Thanks and kudos to the Representatives for participating in the call and to the House Republican Conference for arranging it.  These trips taken by legislators to the front lines are vital to ensuring our policy-making bodies form opinions based on evidence unvarnished and unfiltered by agenda-driven editorial staffs, ratings-focused newsrooms, and the intellectual laziness of blind Bush-bashing.

For ongoing updates on the progress in the "eight areas identified as pillars of U.S. policy in Iraq", check out the State Department's unclassified Iraq Weekly Status Report.

Other bloggers on the call:
Robert Bluey, Human Events
C.J. Grisham, A Soldier's Perspective
LaShawn Barber, LaShawn Barber's Corner
Latino Issues
Red State 

Elsewhere:
Conaway Blog