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Kolbe: Intelligence needed to counter insurgents; Congressman visits Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan and Ukraine
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Ainslee S. Wittig/Range News Rep. Jim Kolbe |
By BILL HESS/Wick News Service
WASHINGTON - Iraqi insurgents have "an endless list of tactics" to fight U.S. forces and America's armed forces are not getting the street intelligence needed to counter the enemy forces, U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe said.
The insurgents use a tactic until it begins to be successfully countered. They then use another tactic, keeping U.S. forces off guard, Kolbe said last Tuesday, Dec. 28, during a telephone press conference.
The unfortunate thing is "we are not getting the kind of intelligence we need," he said.
Kolbe and four other U.S. representatives traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Jordan last week.
The Arizona republican said he found the morale of U.S. forces in Iraq to be good, even though there were gripes expressed by military personnel of having their tours extended. The troops would all rather be home than in Iraq, although most expressed they know they have a job to do and serving in Iraq is part of their work.
Kolbe only had the opportunity to talk with troops in Baghdad because bad weather canceled flights to other parts of Iraq, such as Tikrit, Mosul and Fallujah, the delegation was initially scheduled to visit.
Kolbe led the delegation as part of his responsibility as chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
Things are somewhat better for the troops, especially those who have to patrol, because the Humvees they use in those missions are now super-armored, he said.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld faced complaints last month about the lack of proper armor on vehicles. The complaints were spurred when a soldier questioned him during an event in Kuwait.
Kolbe said there have been a lot of errors made in the time after the main part of combat ended, and Rumsfeld is responsible for some of the wrong decisions.
On Dec. 17, the congressman told the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review for a long time he has not had confidence in the defense secretary. He reiterated that stance to other reporters Tuesday.
Forecasting "a long hard slog in Iraq" that will mean U.S. forces will have to remain in Iraq for some time, Kolbe said next month's elections are critical to the United States and Iraq.
"U.S. forces eventually may be able to fade into the background as the Iraqis take over," he said.
Saying the elections will be imperfect, the congressman commented he agrees with U.S. and Iraqi leaders that the "negatives of delaying them outweigh holding them."
Elections that are leading to democracy in Afghanistan and Ukraine are success stories, but Iraqis will have to step forward like the people of Afghanistan and Ukraine have done, Kolbe said.
Nearly 85 percent of Iraqis want to vote, and 65 percent have indicated they will vote "even if there is a security threat," the congressman said.
The men and women on Iraqi streets are concerned about security, and there is some problem with trusting their own countrymen who are now part of the Army and police forces, he said. It is known that some of the Iraqis who have joined the Army and police are insurgents. It has happened even with a strict vetting process.
It is different in Afghanistan, where people are willingly helping U.S. forces to locate troublemakers, primarily the Taliban.
The Afghans are tired of 25 years of war and the bloodshed that drenched their country, he said.
President Hamid Karzai is determined to bring democracy to Afghanistan and is making progress toward that goal, said Kolbe, who met with Karzai on the trip.
"But they (the Afghans) are no means out of the woods," he added.
On the other hand, Iraqis are somewhat afraid of the future, Kolbe said.
What the Iraqis have to do is look at how changes are happening in Afghanistan and how the people of Ukraine have changed their destiny in the Sunday, Dec. 26 election, the congressman said.
While in Ukraine, he was one of nearly 13,000 election monitors. Kolbe visited five polling places in Kiev and the headquarters of the two presidential contenders, western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who has the support of the Russian leadership.
With a commanding 12 percent lead, Kolbe said it appears Yushchenko will be the next president of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Dec. 28, Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, was urged to accept defeat.
Yushchenko's first trip will be to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who supported his opponent, Kolbe said. After that, Yushchenko will visit the nations of the European Union and then come to the United States.
There is no doubt in the congressman's mind that Yushchenko will be seeking financial help to keep his country on the democratic road.
As the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Foreign Operations subcommittee, Kolbe expects to see a lot of money requests from different nations.
Jordan's King Abdullah II, who Kolbe met with on his trip, has already told President Bush his nation needs more foreign aid for economic and security needs to help stabilize the troubled Middle East, and the request has to be seriously looked at. The king is the first Arab leader to question the Wahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia, an extreme form of Islam, and has said suicide bombings do not lead to people going to heaven, as many Islamic terrorists believe, Kolbe said.
It is unknown what Bush will recommend for Jordan. Kolbe declined to say how much money the king requested.
Kolbe also expects that additional foreign aid will be requested for the nations hit by the tsunami.
(Editor's Note: Bill Hess is the senior reporter for the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
The insurgents use a tactic until it begins to be successfully countered. They then use another tactic, keeping U.S. forces off guard, Kolbe said last Tuesday, Dec. 28, during a telephone press conference.
The unfortunate thing is "we are not getting the kind of intelligence we need," he said.
Kolbe and four other U.S. representatives traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Jordan last week.
The Arizona republican said he found the morale of U.S. forces in Iraq to be good, even though there were gripes expressed by military personnel of having their tours extended. The troops would all rather be home than in Iraq, although most expressed they know they have a job to do and serving in Iraq is part of their work.
Kolbe only had the opportunity to talk with troops in Baghdad because bad weather canceled flights to other parts of Iraq, such as Tikrit, Mosul and Fallujah, the delegation was initially scheduled to visit.
Kolbe led the delegation as part of his responsibility as chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
Things are somewhat better for the troops, especially those who have to patrol, because the Humvees they use in those missions are now super-armored, he said.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld faced complaints last month about the lack of proper armor on vehicles. The complaints were spurred when a soldier questioned him during an event in Kuwait.
Kolbe said there have been a lot of errors made in the time after the main part of combat ended, and Rumsfeld is responsible for some of the wrong decisions.
On Dec. 17, the congressman told the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review for a long time he has not had confidence in the defense secretary. He reiterated that stance to other reporters Tuesday.
Forecasting "a long hard slog in Iraq" that will mean U.S. forces will have to remain in Iraq for some time, Kolbe said next month's elections are critical to the United States and Iraq.
"U.S. forces eventually may be able to fade into the background as the Iraqis take over," he said.
Saying the elections will be imperfect, the congressman commented he agrees with U.S. and Iraqi leaders that the "negatives of delaying them outweigh holding them."
Elections that are leading to democracy in Afghanistan and Ukraine are success stories, but Iraqis will have to step forward like the people of Afghanistan and Ukraine have done, Kolbe said.
Nearly 85 percent of Iraqis want to vote, and 65 percent have indicated they will vote "even if there is a security threat," the congressman said.
The men and women on Iraqi streets are concerned about security, and there is some problem with trusting their own countrymen who are now part of the Army and police forces, he said. It is known that some of the Iraqis who have joined the Army and police are insurgents. It has happened even with a strict vetting process.
It is different in Afghanistan, where people are willingly helping U.S. forces to locate troublemakers, primarily the Taliban.
The Afghans are tired of 25 years of war and the bloodshed that drenched their country, he said.
President Hamid Karzai is determined to bring democracy to Afghanistan and is making progress toward that goal, said Kolbe, who met with Karzai on the trip.
"But they (the Afghans) are no means out of the woods," he added.
On the other hand, Iraqis are somewhat afraid of the future, Kolbe said.
What the Iraqis have to do is look at how changes are happening in Afghanistan and how the people of Ukraine have changed their destiny in the Sunday, Dec. 26 election, the congressman said.
While in Ukraine, he was one of nearly 13,000 election monitors. Kolbe visited five polling places in Kiev and the headquarters of the two presidential contenders, western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who has the support of the Russian leadership.
With a commanding 12 percent lead, Kolbe said it appears Yushchenko will be the next president of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Dec. 28, Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, was urged to accept defeat.
Yushchenko's first trip will be to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who supported his opponent, Kolbe said. After that, Yushchenko will visit the nations of the European Union and then come to the United States.
There is no doubt in the congressman's mind that Yushchenko will be seeking financial help to keep his country on the democratic road.
As the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Foreign Operations subcommittee, Kolbe expects to see a lot of money requests from different nations.
Jordan's King Abdullah II, who Kolbe met with on his trip, has already told President Bush his nation needs more foreign aid for economic and security needs to help stabilize the troubled Middle East, and the request has to be seriously looked at. The king is the first Arab leader to question the Wahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia, an extreme form of Islam, and has said suicide bombings do not lead to people going to heaven, as many Islamic terrorists believe, Kolbe said.
It is unknown what Bush will recommend for Jordan. Kolbe declined to say how much money the king requested.
Kolbe also expects that additional foreign aid will be requested for the nations hit by the tsunami.
(Editor's Note: Bill Hess is the senior reporter for the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
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