Charlie Wilson Conference Call On Iraq

Today I had the exciting opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Congressman Charlie Wilson. Wilson had spent the day (Iraq is 10 hours ahead of Eastern Time) touring Iraq.

As today was the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the group didn't have as much access to Iraqi officials as they normally would, but apparently they have been able to meet with at least some of them. He mentioned that the group he was part of had visited an outpost today that was manned by both American and Iraqi forces and that it "seemed to be working well" but that the Iraqi police was seriously understaffed.

When asked Wilson said that he hadn't actually seen any fighting but clearly saw the remnants of past fighting and a few times they had to take the Humvee's off the highway because of holes created by roadside bombs.

When the issue of withdrawing troops came up Wilson emphasized that he didn't favor a "quick withdrawal" because of concerns about losing the little progress that we have made. He did say he favors a troop redeployment though, and furthermore that "the sooner and the bigger we do it, the better off we're going to be". I tend to agree with Wilson on this one, I don't want our troops there any longer than necessary but I also think we have to give the Iraqi people (not the government) a chance to improve their safety and standard of living. After all, we created this mess.

On that subject, my only question for Wilson was whether the basic needs of the Iraqi people were being met. Specifically I asked about the availability of food, water, and electricity. Wilson replied that the Iraqi's are only able to draw power from the electrical grid for two hours each day and that otherwise they either had to buy a generator or share someone else's. As for water he said that a limited amount of homes have access to potable water. He best summed up the situation though by saying that "the Iraq people are feeling the pain of this as well".

While talking about the troops themselves Wilson was very complimentary, saying that the troops are doing an exceptional job but also questioned whether we could ask for anymore from them (you can hear this part below). He also mentioned that there were several Ohio troops where they ate lunch today and he described their mood as upbeat but said that they were eager to return home. If wasn't mentioned if our Ohio troops were able get a hold of any Appalachian State merchandise over there.

You can hear Rep. Wilson's opening statement (but not the question and answer session) below or download it from here.

Congressman Space Places Friendly Wager On Sat. OSU Game

Zack Space has put down a friendly wager with Washington Representative Norm Dicks (D-WA) over this weekends Ohio State vs. University of Washington football game. If Ohio wins Space will receive Almond Roca candy and a pound of Starbucks Coffee, however if Washington wins Space must send Rep. Dicks some Buckeye Chocolates and Troyer's Trail Bologna.

Remarks from Space:

“Congressman Dicks is a good friend and a good legislator, but he’s just wrong to think Washington has a chance against Ohio State this weekend. I look forward to sharing his caffeinated treats with my staff and leading them in a hearty OH-IO!”

Remarks from Dicks:

I’m going to make sure Zack has a copy of the Husky fight song, ‘Bow Down To Washington’, because he’ll be singing a different tune after this game.”

The release goes on to point out that "Saturday’s game starts at 3:30 Eastern/12:30 Pacific and will air on ESPN".

Zack Space On The Anniversary Of The 9/11 Attacks

For some reason this didn't go out through email like Space's releases usually do so I'm a little late on this. Here it is:

The events of September 11th, 2001 continue to resonate in my memory and the memories of all Americans.  On that day, our world changed forever.

We learned of the horrors of international terrorism, and we were reminded again of the absolute importance of maintaining a strong national defense and fighting a terrorist network that has mushroomed to all corners of the globe.

Still, my heart aches for the suffering the victims experienced that day and the pain that their families still feel.  I also think about the heroism of the men and women who went running into those buildings, sacrificing themselves in the hope that they may save others.  Those actions are a true testament to the American spirit.

It is that spirit that continues to bring healing after this tragedy.  It is why we celebrate the lives of those we lost, and it is why we pledge to never forget their sacrifice.

We as a nation will continue working to bring those responsible to justice.  We will continue to fight international terrorism effectively and strategically so we may never again see the kind of death and destruction we saw that terrible day.

We must never forget September 11th, 2001.

-- Rep. Zack Space

Ohio Reps Wilson, Boehner, and Tiberi Heading For Iraq

Yesterday 6th district Rep. Charlie Wilson, along with 6 other members of the House, flew to the Middle East yesterday to begin a tour of the region.

"The American people deserve an honest assessment of conditions in Iraq and the Bush Administration's effort to manipulate the facts is unacceptable. As a member of Congress who will be asked to vote on this war very soon, I need to go and see for myself what the situation is.

“The troops have heroically done their jobs. They’ve done everything we asked them to do. The big question is how much more can we ask? And for what? The troops have done their damndest. I’m just not seeing much evidence that the Iraqis have done their part. I’m not questioning the troops, but I am questioning the political strategy. How are the next 6 months going to be any different than the past several years?”

-- Rep. Charlie Wilson

The other Representatives on the trip are John Boehner (OH-8), Rep. Pat Tiberi (OH-12), Rep. Peter Hoekstra (MI-2), Rep. Peter King (NY-3), Rep. Tom Latham (IA-4) and Rep. Devin Nunes (CA-21).

Different Shades Of Blue

I've been thinking a lot about some things that have happened in the left-leaning blogs recently. Not really about any one specific incident, just how things as a whole have been going. For some reason we've all been jumping at each others throats recently and I think I've finally figured out why.

Originally I thought it was just because it was about as far from a federal election as it gets and we were all just getting bored. While I'm sure that it's a factor, I no longer believe it to be the core problem.

My next working theory for all this controversy was that we had switched over to defense after the Congress went Democratic last year. I always thought offense was much easier than playing defense. On offense all you had to do was point out all the mistakes that the other side made, in defense you have to fix those mistakes while not making any mistakes of your own. After a while though I realized that it really isn't that different. The rules are still the same, it's just that now we have more to lose. The theory was rejected though there's still some truth to it, switching sides did throw a lot of people off balance.

With these two discarded, yet still somewhat accurate, theories in hand I was sure I had to be getting close to the real problem. And it turns out I was, I believe theory number three finally succeeded in revealing the core problem. Now I'm submitting it all of you for a little peer review but it's so blatantly obvious that you probably already figured it out.

Drum roll please...

The reason we all can't get along is because we no longer have a common goal. We all put aside our differences to work towards a Democratic Congress in '06 but now we don't have anything to work towards anymore. We won't have that kind of comradery over an election again until after the primaries are over and we have a single Democratic presidential candidate next year. Furthermore, now that we've won Congress for the Democrats we're all fighting over the spoils. Sure Congress is blue, but is it more of a royal blue or is it a baby blue? Some would even prefer it to be purple. To put it bluntly, we're all (myself included) so busy trying to micro-manage how our Democratic Congress votes that we risk losing it all together.

I believe that we should quit worrying about what shade of blue our Congress is and instead direct our attention towards applying a second coat of plain old generic blue. After all, there's still some red showing through the first coat.