|
McCain: U.S. Must Evaluate Iraq Mission
Sen. John McCain said Wednesday the United States should spend "whatever it takes" to complete its mission in Iraq after a bomb ripped through U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing at least 20 people including the top U.N. envoy. McCain, R-Ariz., is leading a seven-member delegation of U.S. lawmakers to Iraq for meetings with soldiers, military officers and civilian administrators. The group - on the second day of a three-day visit - had just toured a mass grave site near Hilla, 34 miles south of Baghdad. "After an event like this (the U.N. bombing) we have to evaluate whether we have enough people, whether we have the right kind of people and whether we are spending enough money, and I think itâs appropriate to make that evaluation," McCain told reporters at Baghdad International Airport. Sounds like good congressional oversight here. Wearing a floppy canvas hat and mopping sweat from his brow in 120 degree heat, McCain said he looked forward to a congressional hearing in September that would review the "size of the United Statesâ commitment, the expenses" and the number of forces positioned in Iraq. "Itâs going to be interesting when we sit down and see how much money is being spent," said McCain, who supported the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein. L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq, has said he hoped that most of the money for Iraqâs reconstruction would come from its oil exports. But the lucrative oil pipeline has been the routine target of saboteurs, and oil exports are not flowing as they should. As a result, Bremer said he was preparing a list of projects together with their price tags to present to an international donors conference in Spain in October. Ugh, I donât like the hat-in-hand image. One delegate, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, said the United States needed to stand firm in the face of insurgents and attackers such as those who exploded a truck bomb outside the U.N. compound on Tuesday. Over 100 people were injured and many were still missing Wednesday. "I think they will go to any means to stop the process of peace and prosperity in Iraq, which means our commitment must be even more firm and more resolute," Hutchison said. McCain and the other lawmakers were to visit the southern city of Basra on Thursday before leaving for Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cyprus and Turkey, said Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz. Before Iraq, the delegation was in Israel. Posted by: Steve White 2003-08-21 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=17827 |