Charlie Wilson Reacts To Petraeus Testimony
Congressman Charlie Wilson had some pretty strong words to say in reaction to the testimony being given by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
“The message from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker is that there’s no end in sight for the war in Iraq. That’s not good enough. The troops have done their job and done it well. But, there’s been almost no political progress in Iraq and we just keep pouring our troops and money into it.
“Bear in mind, Iraq is running a budget surplus while our economy is suffering. We’re spending $339 million a day in Iraq and the government in Iraq isn’t even helping itself. It’s difficult to spend that and not have success. With $339 million we could put more than 2,000 agents on our borders for a year. We could vaccinate 317,000 children. We could provide more than 2.5 million Americans access to medical and dental care at community health centers.
“The American people want a new direction in Iraq, not 100 more years of war. We need a plan for withdrawal.”
– Rep. Charlie Wilson
Wilson has voted for a troop pullout before, but his anti-war feelings seem to have strenghtened since last year.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Add Wilson to the list of those who are distorting McCain’s comment.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Sorry, doesn’t count. Wilson never even mentioned McCain, much less attribute the “100 years” to him.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Ol’ George W. said he would trust what he was told by the Generals on the ground and do what was best. The problem is that the only Generals he’ll keep are the ones who say what he wants to hear.
I hope you’ll join in on the new All Ohio Carnival.
I’d like to see if we can connect on a few projects; there’s an email link in my profile.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
So our direction should be to just leave and not care about these people?
It seems like everyone is giving two options: Go with the Bush/Petreus plan or get out.
It sure would be nice if somone had an actual alternative.
(Oh, I also don’t believe Wilson’s comment about “100 years” was original. It was a left handed jab at McCain).
April 11th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Yes, it would be nice to have an alternative. I don’t see President Bush allowing anything significantly different. Remember how long it took him to admit the initial strategy wasn’t working before the “surge”? Ultimately I think Bush and the people he chooses to surround himself with just aren’t capable of running a war. Any of the three candidates could probably do a better job, and I’m afraid that’s probably what it’s going to take.
Because Wilson doesn’t attribute the 100 years comment to McCain it doesn’t count as a distortion of his words. Beyond that I’m staying out of it.