Brown-Waite: U.S. troop morale high, support from Iraqis growing stronger

Despite high casualty figures, morale is high among U.S. troops and more support is building every day from Iraqis, according to Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite on tour in the strife-ridden nation along with eight other congressmen. "Every day Saddam Hussein isn't in power is a good day for Iraq," the congresswoman from Brooksville said. "He loses power over the people every day."

Brown-Waite talked with 35 soldiers from Florida during her whirlwind tour last weekend and asked each one of them if what the United States is doing in Iraq is worth the cost - and would he or she do it again. "To a person, they all answered with a resounding yes," said Brown-Waite.

While eating in mess tents, Brown-Waite discovered troops want more armored vehicles and helicopters in the fight against Hussein's loyalists. During hospital tours, the lawmaker was shocked by the lack of modern equipment and technology and was told repeatedly by Iraqi doctors that they needed more training. One nurse told her, "We don't need you to leave; we need you to stay."

Her quote came about the same time a White House plan was announced to pull out of Iraq next summer.

Brown-Waite said the American people are not getting "the whole story" by watching network television news that focuses on "too much negativity." "We are gaining more and more favor and credibility every day from the Iraqi people," she said. "There is more support for U.S. troops in Iraq than we are being told by the media."

More electrical power is available to the people than when Hussein was in power, she said. The agricultural industry is doing well with a good crop expected to be harvested in the spring, she added. Not faring as well is the nation's water system and sewage treatment facilities.

Brown-Waite's congressional entourage was to be shuttled around Iraq in helicopters but after two Blackhawks collided last week killing 17 soldiers, the delegation was placed aboard cargo planes and schedule changes were often made to ensure the group's safety. Brown-Waite said increased security should come soon as more helicopters and armed vehicles were destined for Iraq as a result of the supplemental budget approved by Congress to funnel more money into the war-torn nation.

However, the military is still in need of linguistic experts who speak Arabic and can help as the search for Saddam and his henchmen continues.

While she was visiting Iraq, Brown-Waite met Heather Hartney, a military policewoman whose father, Bill Hartney, lives in Brooksville. Her assignment and location could not be given because of security precaution, Brown-Waite said. The lawmaker said she will return to Washington this week and expects to be back in Brooksville over the weekend.

Did anyone else reading this notice again the party affiliation for the congress-critter was not mentioned??? I don't know personally about this congress woman, but just given pattern of liberal slant in the article, my guess is she was a Democrat.

I'm sure it is not that hard to find out. Just too lazy to do the needed search.

http://www.house.gov/brown-waite/

In the mold of President George W. Bush, Congresswoman Brown-Waite is a compassionate conservative with a proven ability to bring people together and work across party lines to get the job done.

Let's get focused here.

To deny the progress our troops is to deny support for our troops and families.

Until there is ABSOLUTELY IRREFUTABLE evidence that this (or ANY) mission is flawed and unjust, it is ANTI-TROOP AND ANTI-AMERICAN AND HURTFUL TO TROOP FAMILIES AND TO THE FAMILIES OF THE DECEASED to speak against the noble intentions of this effort to liberate Iraq.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please call your Rep TODAY

Legion Opposes OMB on VA Funding

WASHINGTON, November 14, 2003 - The morning after President George W. Bush delivered his Veterans Day message at Arlington National Cemetery, the administration’s Office of Management and Budget – in writing – opposed an additional $1.3 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs health care budget and reiterated its call to charge many veterans seeking treatment at VA a $250 annual enrollment fee and to raise the pharmacy co-payment from $7 to $15.

“A veteran is a veteran,” American Legion National Commander John Brieden said. “The law was changed in the ‘90s to allow all veterans to seek treatment at VA. Although OMB is willing to wield the budget to repel veterans from seeking treatment at VA, the men and women of The American Legion as well as Republicans and Democrats in Congress remain determined not to let that happen.”

Brieden made the Legion’s case to Congress perfectly clear Sept. 16 when he testified here before a joint hearing session of House and Senate committees on Veterans’ Affairs. Simply put: Health care for veterans is the delayed cost of war. Therefore, if Congress can meet the president’s request for an additional $87 billion to fund the ongoing war in Iraq, then Congress also can raise an additional $1.8 billion next year, and a $3 billion increase the following year, to meet the health care needs of veterans.

A blueprint passed by the House in April called for a Legion-backed $27.1 billion for the system, but in July the House approved an appropriations bill that called for $25.3 billion. Therein lies the $1.8 billion spending gap that the Legion, the nation’s largest veterans organization, is fighting alongside other veterans groups to close. As the spending bill for VA-HUD and Independent Agencies makes its way through the Senate, an amendment offered by Sen. Christopher Bond of Missouri -- an amendment that has bipartisan support -- could fill the chasm by $1.5 billion. Congress is also poised to remove the Senate Appropriations Committee’s “emergency” designation from $1.3 billion targeted for VA health care, and to send the entire increase directly to VA.

How badly does VA need the money? The American Legion’s “I Am Not A Number” survey in May identified scores of the more than 200,000 veterans who had been waiting from six months to two years for their initial primary-care appointments at VA. Recent news media accounts noted veterans of the ongoing war on terror also having trouble accessing the system. Although VA reports tremendous recent success in whittling down the backlog, about 164,000 veterans in the lowest of VA’s eight priority-treatment groups have been suspended from enrolling in the VA health care system since January because VA lacks the resources to serve all of the veterans who are lawfully eligible for treatment.

The American Legion is fighting to switch the VA health care budget from discretionary funding, which Congress must approve each fiscal year, to mandatory funding, just like Social Security and Medicare, whereby federal dollars are allocated by a formula to meet the system’s demands. The nation’s largest veterans organization also wants to end the restriction that keeps veterans from using their Medicare benefits to pay for treatment at VA.

Read the entire Statement of Administration Policy:

Download Statement (PDF file)

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