From Baghdad Latham Warns Of ‘Retreat and Defeat’

Douglas Burns — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:40:40 +0000

U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, says he plans to use his third trip to Iraq to talk with American troops and local citizenry in areas that “are not stabilized” to better understand the “progress” of the American mission there.

“The reason I’m in-country is to make that evaluation,” Latham told Iowa Independent and other media during a conference call today.

Latham, speaking from Baghdad just after 10 p.m. there, said reports indicate progres in some communities with stemming terrorist or insurgent attacsk but that he wants a more complete picture before meeting with Iowans to present his findings.

The Iowa congressman characterized some calls for complete combat withdrawal as “retreat and defeat” maneuvers that he believes could be dangerous for troops.

Latham said he supports reducing the troops at perhaps even a faster pace than what General David Petraeus has called for in recent congressional testimony.

“But we need to do it from a position of winning and strength and not retreating in defeat,” Latham said.

Specifically, Latham said public proposals, such as the high-profile one presented by Democratic presidential candidate Baracak Obama today calling for immediate drawdown, can have a negative impact on servicepeople.

“It cetainly does with the people that I have talked to, the Iowans on the ground over here, especially when they realize the progress and have seen first-hand the progress that’s being made,” Latham said. “But having said that I want to get a larger evaluation of the picture over here tomorrow and when talking to troops who are not in a more stabilized area.”

Latham told reporters he could not release specifics on locations in Iraq he planned to visit to get a better sense of life on the ground.

The congressman said he would visit Pakistan as well and Afghanistan before returning home.

Biden’s `Plan for Iraq’ TV Ad Hits Home in More Ways Than One

T.M. Lindsey — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:09:33 +0000

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, D.-Del., launched his new ad, “Cathedral,” which not only strikes the emotional chords of parents having lost loved ones in the Iraq War but those parents who risk losing loved ones in the future – including Biden, whose eldest son, Beau, has received orders to deploy to Iraq next year.

Stumping for his father, a passionate Beau Biden addresses members of the Iowa Democratic Party Veterans’ Caucus

In his first television ad to hit the Iowa airwaves, Biden describes one of his experiences while visiting the theater of war in Iraq. The 30-second commercial is part of a quarter-million-dollar ad campaign that launched Sunday and emphasizes the Delaware senator’s campaign focus, a detailed plan to end the war in Iraq. The ad begins with the camera focusing on Biden staring point blank into the camera, as if he was looking into the souls of American viewers.

Biden begins retelling his story with the setting details: “It was my fourth trip to Iraq; we were leaving Baghdad. It was pitch black,” Biden says before segueing into a description of a flag-draped coffin strapped in the middle of his C-130 cargo plane. “They turned that cargo plane into a cathedral,” he says. “And all I could think of was the parents waiting at the other end. We must end this war in a way that won’t send their grandchildren back.” Knowing that Biden may be one of these parents on the receiving end of the C-130 cargo plane, it’s these lines that strike an emotional chord with television viewers.Biden’s son, Beau, is the attorney general of Delaware and a captain in the U.S. National Guard. Beau Biden told a room full of veterans at the Presidential Extravaganza that his father is not happy about the possibility of his deployment, quoting his father, “I don’t want him going. But I tell you what, I don’t want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years, and so how we leave makes a big difference.”

Unlike his poll numbers in Iowa, where he’s been consistently polling at about 2 percent, Biden’s “Plan for Iraq” has been gaining traction with his congressional colleagues and foreign policy experts on both sides of the political aisle. Biden’s campaign crew hopes the ads will help him garner name recognition and traction in the polls.

Larry Rasky, communications director for the Biden campaign, said this to the Des Moines Register: “There’s no question that Iraq is the major issue on the minds of the voters, and there’s also no question that Joe Biden has been the leader in trying to push George Bush to get out of Iraq. It will certainly raise the senator’s favorable name recognition, but as for the horse race question, I think it remains to be seen as to when people really begin focusing on making that choice, but it will happen over time.”

“Cathedral”

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From Baghdad Latham Warns Of ‘Retreat and Defeat’

Biden’s `Plan for Iraq’ TV Ad Hits Home in More Ways Than One