Goodlatte concludes Iraq trip with positive report

By Ray Reed

Published: June 30, 2008

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, on his third visit to Iraq in six years, said Monday that the nation’s internal security, its economy and oil business clearly are improving.

Its attempts at self-government are showing less progress, he said.

Goodlatte, R-6th District, said he reminded Iraqi officials that there is a limit to U.S. troop support, although no time frame concerning American involvement has been decided by U.S. military leaders and policy makers.

“The Iraqis are hopeful we will stay longer than most Americans would like us to stay,” Goodlatte said. “I tried to help them understand there is a limit to our support.

“No one should assume our commitment is forever, or for any kind of unlimited duration,” he said.

Speaking by cell phone from Baghdad to reporters in Virginia, Goodlatte said he had seen signs “that violence is way down from where it has been,” and that competence is on the rise within the nation’s own security forces.

“This morning, five of us (members of Congress) had the opportunity to travel through Baghdad and visit a neighborhood police station, and we drove through the streets to get there,” Goodlatte said.

“On my last trip (in January 2006), the only areas they would take me to were areas secured by the U.S. military in the Green Zone,” Goodlatte said.

The delegation’s ride through Baghdad passed people on the sidewalks and in stores, Goodlatte said, but his military escorts apparently felt it was not safe enough to let the Congress members talk with Iraqis through interpreters.

Goodlatte credited that atmosphere to Iraqi security forces that, though still supported by U.S. troops, have recruited members of several religious and ethnic groups into their integrated ranks.

Goodlatte is seeking election to his eighth term in Congress this fall. He is opposed by Democrat Sam Rasoul of the Roanoke area, and by independent Janice Lee Allen, a Harrisonburg real estate agent.

Goodlatte’s first visit to Iraq was in 2003, not long after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government, when “the country was in shambles” and no attempts were being made to rebuild its infrastructure, Goodlatte said.

Accompanying Goodlatte on the congressional visit were Reps. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Brian Bilbray, R-Calif.; Travis Childers, D-Miss; and Thelma Drake, R-2nd District.

Their two-day visit was extended at least five hours Monday because a sandstorm delayed their flight out of Baghdad, Goodlatte said.

Iraq’s government has developed slowly, in part because of religious conflicts between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and ethnic differences with Kurdish people in its northern region, Goodlatte said.

Oil production is increasing, but the government has been unable to agree on how oil profits will be distributed among its provinces, religious and ethnic groups, Goodlatte said.

Iraq has said it will announce agreements soon on tender offers from the world’s major oil companies to develop the country’s proven crude reserves of more than 100

billion barrels, as estimated in the Oil and Gas Journal.

“The country is producing more oil than it did before the fall of Saddam Hussein,” Goodlatte said.

“We are seeing a drop in the amount the United States is spending on rebuilding the country,” as opposed to the cost of supporting and equipping U.S. troops there, he said.

“Iraq should have the resources to build schools, roads, irrigation canals, water and electric power,” Goodlatte said.

“All those things are easier to accomplish when Iraq increases its oil production,” he said.

“Progress is being made, but whether it is rapid enough to satisfy the American people remains to be seen,” Goodlatte said.