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Hare: Time to get U.S. troops out of Iraq

Posted August 07, 2007 11:00 pm

Bernard Schoenburg

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, said Tuesday it's time to start withdrawing American forces from Iraq.

"From my perspective, enough is enough - we've done everything we can do," Hare said at a Statehouse news conference in which he discussed his first seven months as a member of the House.

"Our troops have served wonderfully," Hare said, but he noted that members of the military and Iraqi civilians are still dying.

"I've lost seven soldiers since I took over," he said of his 17th Congressional District, which includes part of Springfield. "And those calls to the parents are the worst calls you can possibly make."

Hare also said the war is using up "tremendous amounts of money" that is approaching a trillion dollars.

"They tell us to wait till September," he said of an expected report on how the surge of American troops is working Iraq. "We've waited five Septembers now. The American people don't want to wait any more. I don't want to wait any more. We clearly need to redeploy. We are stretched as thin and beyond thin as possible."

Some federal officials, including U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, have said removal of U.S. troops from Iraq would lead to a "bloodbath" among factions in that country.

"I think the bloodbath is currently going on," Hare said, adding that a withdrawal cannot be immediate.

"It's going to take at least, probably, a year to do this the right way so that we can protect the men and women over there and get our equipment back, too.

"We've got to have a diplomatic solution to this. This is a civil war. … What it's going to take I think is all the countries, including Iraq, to sit down eventually, agree to stop the killing, and whether you like Iran or whether you like Syria or not, which I don't particularly like them, you have to talk to them."

Ultimately, Hare said, "I think we need a peacekeeping force, and an embassy force, and I would say that's the extent of what we need there. I mean, the Iraqis have to take their own initiative to protect their own citizenry."

He also said some more troops will have to be sent to Afghanistan, where "we're very short."

Hare was highly critical of the Veterans Administration for what he said was inadequate care provided to wounded veterans. He cited a recent ABC News report that more than 22,000 service men and women in all branches of the military have been discharged since 2001 for alleged pre-existing personality disorders - letting the government off the hook for their long-term care.

One person cited in that report was Donald Louis Schmidt of Chillicothe, who was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after his second tour of duty in Iraq. The discharge, ABC reported, left Schmidt ineligible for disability pay and benefits, and required him to return more than $10,000 of his $15,000 re-enlistment bonus.

"I have never seen anything so dishonoring of a group of people who give everything they have than this," Hare said of the thousands of people getting the personality-disorder discharges. He said he's introduced legislation for a moratorium on such actions.

"I think we have to err on the side of our troops," he said.

In general, Hare said, his first months in Congress have been productive in areas such as passage of a higher federal minimum wage, work on a farm bill he considers a good safety net, and work to lower interest rates on student loans and an energy bill that is "very good" in promoting use of alternative sources such as ethanol, wind and biodiesel.

"I would give our class this time an A-minus," he said.

Hare won election in 2006, taking the seat of former U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, D-Rock Island, who didn't seek re-election because of health problems. Hare was Evans' longtime district aide.

Hare also said he thinks Democrats "have a shot" at winning the 18th Congressional District seat being given up by LaHood, but the battle will be "clearly uphill."

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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