Baird sees need for longer U.S. role in Iraq

[ProSense]

Baird sees need for longer U.S. role in Iraq

Brad Shannon
The Olympian

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird said Thursday that his recent trip to Iraq convinced him the military needs more time in the region, and that a hasty pullout would cause chaos that helps Iran and harms U.S. security.

"I believe that the decision to invade Iraq and the post-invasion management of that country were among the largest foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation. I voted against them, and I still think they were the right votes," Baird said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

"But we're on the ground now. We have a responsibility to the Iraqi people and a strategic interest in making this work."

Baird, a five-term Democrat, voted against President Bush ordering the Iraq invasion — at a time when he was in a minority in Congress and at risk of alienating voters. He returned late Tuesday from a trip that included stops in Israel, Jordan and Iraq, where he met troops, U.S. advisers and Iraqis, whose stories have convinced him that U.S. troops must stay longer.

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"But we're on the ground now."


Idiot!

[trumad]

1. How much time?

I thought so....

[TwilightGardener]

2. Who was advocating for "hasty pullout" in Congress? Uhhh....nobody?

This dude either took a bribe or is just plain stupid. You don't compound a mistake by furthering it. If he believes it was a mistake to invade, then he knows our soldiers' lives were wasted. He now wants to waste more. I guess the House needed a Lieberman equivalent, but this guy needs to be gone in '08.

[Selatius]

3. Yes, let's ignore the will of the Iraqi people and continue to stay.

We know what's best for them. They want us gone because we're prolonging the civil war by not allowing one side to lose and one side to win. More people will die the longer the war is dragged out.

[ProSense]

4. Kick! n/t