Latham seems to imply that the goal of federal policy should be to “bring our troops home safely and as quickly as possible – in victory and honor,” echoing GOP arguments from the 2008 campaign trail.

“In victory and honor” is a qualifier that is often used to say that a quick withdrawal that gives up some of the gains U.S. forces have made in Iraq would amount to a defeat, and it would bring dishonor on the armed forces.

Here’s the text of Latham’s statement:

“On my fourth trip to Iraq, I was very interested in personally seeing what progress has been made since my last visit in the fall of 2007,” said Latham. “I firmly believe that nothing can substitute for the frank and honest conversations I will have with troops who are on the ground in the region. And, I am please to see that American troops have made remarkable progress in Iraq as a result of their true commitment and sacrifice.”

“The progress and success does not overshadow the somber fact that there is much more work to be done. Our meeting with General Odierno and Ambassador Crocker cautioned us that the gains realized by the surge and the political reconciliation process are still fragile. We must be committed to continuing to listen to the expertise of our commanders on the ground and providing the resources and support that will bring our troops home safely and as quickly as possible – in victory and honor.”

Rob Hubler

COON RAPIDS — Serving aboard a nuclear submarine in the 1960s, Rob Hubler and his fellow crew members received word that war with the Soviet Union had started, that their arsenal was to be released on the enemy.

After following through the missile launch, the crew of the submarine pondered what they had done — not knowing that it was only a drill, that no nuclear warheads were in the sky ready to rain death, destruction and Armageddon. In the middle of the ocean, with the true nature of their assignment kept under wraps so top brass could obtain realistic results, Hubler and his submariner buddies thought a nuclear war was happening above.

“We sat there for 45 minutes knowing everyone we knew was dead,” said Hubler, 65, a Council Bluffs Democrat who is running for Iowa’s Fifth Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

Soon, the crew learned it was just a drill, and that they would again see many friends and family. it is an experience that still gives Hubler pause.

A 1961 graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs who later went to college and served as a Presbyterian minister, Hubler volunteered for the Navy in 1962 and stayed until his honorable discharge in 1969. He served a total of 6 years and 9 months, with 3 years and 9 months of sea or foreign service duty, according to his official military records.

“I really wanted to serve my country,” Hubler said in a recent interview over coffee at the Coon Rapids bowling alley. He has six uncles who also served in the military.

He went through basic training in San Diego and chose the submarine service because, he said, “It seemed like the place I fit best.” His first assignment was aboard the USS Sea Devil — “which my mother always thought was very appropriate,” he joked.

The first few days at sea weren’t easy for Hubler, who said he suffered from motion sickness every half hour.

“My first day they gave me a coffee can that had a belt loop on it,” he recalled.

Among other assignments, Hubler also served aboard the USS Sculpin and USS Daniel Boone. He was a nuclear power plant operator and a nuclear propulsion room supervisor.

One memorable mission involved silently slipping into a Soviet port in a sub and taking surveillance films while underneath a Russian ship. Hubler received hazardous duty and combat pay for much of his service in the Navy because of risky endeavors such as this one.

“Submarines, particularly nuclear boats, are the most sophisticated weapon of mass destruction there is,” he said.

On the campaign trail, Hubler, an opponent of U.S. policy in Iraq, often wears a “Silent Service” cap from his days in the Navy. At some stops, veterans will approach him, shake his hand and spend time talking about shared experiences before moving on to issues. Hubler said he prefers to talk about his service in the context of working on veterans’ benefits and improved treatment of men and women in uniform, not by telling so-called war stories.

He’s been outraged during the campaign when King, who was at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo., with a high draft lottery number during Vietnam, seems to challenge the patriotism of those who served. Hubler earned the Vietnam Service Medal.

While he is a strong supporter of home-grown Iowa energy, and not the unabashed proponent of nuclear power that King is, Hubler knows who he’d want running anything nuclear in the United States.

“If we had a great nuclear power program in the United States, it ought to be controlled by the U.S. Navy,” Hubler said.

OMAHA, Neb. – Three Democratic candidates facing tough House races against incumbents in Republican-heavy Midwestern districts joined forces Wednesday to bash the Bush administration and Congress on Iraq policy.

From Nebraska, Jim Esch of Omaha and Max Yashirin of Lincoln appeared at a joint news conference with Iowa’s Rob Hubler of Council Bluffs.

“Republican leadership would have you believe some alien third party has been in charge,” said Hubler, who’s running against GOP Rep. Steve King in Iowa’s 5th District, the most Republican congressional district in the state.

But it’s been President Bush, aided by the Republicans in Congress, who’ve fouled up the nation’s foreign policy, Hubler said.

Making his sixth trip to Iraq since the March 2003 U.S. invasion, Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King said there is such strong improvement in security that terrorist group al-Qaeda has been rendered ineffective.

King was last in Iraq in July 2007, and this morning said he’s now seeing “a stark contrast” in security following the 2007 U.S. troop surge. King said “we are on the cusp of a victory,” but it’s still to early to declare victory, he added.

Hayden ads, “Senator Harkin’s comments are nothing more than a political cheap shot aimed at a true war hero, Senator John McCain. All Americans should welcome this type of generational commitment to service, as it provides the very foundation of our great nation.”

McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has made recent arguments about that conflict, suggesting the United States could have won.

“That’s sort of a bizarre thing to say at this point in time,” Harkin said.

And yesterday, McCain said U.S. troops likely would be in Iraq until 2013, after the Arizona senator faced much criticism for his shot-from-the-hip earlier assessment that the United States may be in Iraq for 100 years.

Harkin, a Vietnam-era Navy veteran, said there is a difference in what he characterized as healthy perspective about military and civilian balance from those who are drafted or volunteered for brief periods — versus the positioning of some career military men with deep warrior lineages like McCain.

“It’s one thing to have been drafted and served or volunteer and serve for a few years or something and get out and get on with your life, and another thing, you know, when you come from generations of military people and that’s just sort of how you’re steeped, that’s how you learn, that’s how you grew up,” Harkin said. “It’s hard to shake those things.”

Harkin clearly suggested that a president with McCain’s military experience may not be able to achieve the civilian/soldier balance in the office as presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Washington did.

Iowa Independent asked Harkin to elaborate on his view on the military influence in McCain’s life:

Iowa Independent: Do you see historical parallels with Gen. Douglas McArthur or do you think McCain will feel he has disappointed his father and grandfather if he presides over a nation at peace?

Harkin: I think I went too far as it is. Suffice to say, I have been concerned for some time about John McCain’s views on the use of our military and how he envisions our place in the world and how the leadership in the world is first based on military and then based on something else. And I don’t think that’s the correct way to go. Yes, we have to have military power. Yes, we have to be the strongest military force in the world. But the way you project it and the way you approach other countries is not just with the hammer, the military first.

McCain’s Web site makes his military service a key element of the candidate’s narrative:

As the son and grandson of distinguished Navy admirals, John McCain deeply values duty, honor and service of country. John attended college at the United States Naval Academy and launched a 22-year career as a naval aviator upon his graduation. He continued the McCain tradition of service to country passed down to him from his father and grandfather when he asked to serve in the Vietnam War.

Harkin initially entered this discussion when a reporter asked a broad question about how experience in the military informs U.S. Senate service.

In response, Harkin recalled conversations with former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., a decorated Vietnam veteran. According to Harkin, Kerrey said that senators who never served in the military “are always sucking up to these generals and stuff and they just can’t praise them enough and slobber all over.”

Harkin said Kerrey once told him: “You and I know they’re just humans like the rest of us.”

“It seems that those who haven’t been in the military are more apt to be more pro-military and give the military what it wants, write `em a blank check,” Harkin said. “I don’t know if there’s some psychological thing with that.”

Harkin also addressed McCain’s specific comments Thursday about the length of the war in Iraq.

“Later in the campaign, will he reduce that down to 2010?” Harkin asked. “It looks like he’s getting closer and closer to the position of those of us who say we ought to start the withdrawal as soon as possible.”

The military is being stretched thin as a result of the war, Harkin said.

“We are reaching the point where we just about have a hollow military,” Harkin said. “We are using them up, and our National Guard forces.”

More high school dropouts and felons are in the military now because of lowered recruitment standards, Harkin said.

“That’s not a kind of Army we want,” Harkin said. “As long as we’re stuck in Iraq, we’re not going to be able to make these other changes.”

Campbell discussed her Middle East fact-finding missions before and after the start of Iraq War in an interview with the Iowa Independent.

She visited Baghdad and Basra in December 2002, a few months before the start of the war.

Since then, she said, the perception of the U.S. in the Middle East has changed:

"When I went in 2002, people said to us in Iraq, "Well, why are you coming to invade us? Why are you coming to take away our freedom? Why are you coming to destroy us?"

But they made a distinction between us as people and our government …

Now in Syria and Lebanon, there is a fair amount of anger at what we have done, at how we have disturbed the Middle East, at our arrogance, at the control."

Campbell’s delegation asked one of their Syrian hosts about a message to take back to the U.S. about the refugee situation.

"When we said, 'Well, what message do we take back?' she said, 'We don't need any money. We don't need anything but peace. This war is a crime against humanity,' with a passion that — it touched me deeply.

I remember vividly what she said."

She also talked about her recent trip in January and her hosts, the Good Shepherd Sisters, in Syria. She described “heartbreaking” stories of Iraqi refugees and the “amazing” work being done by the Good Shepherd Sisters.

"A heartbreaking story is this Christian family in southern Iraq who was threatened by the militia and told to get out, to leave, because this is a Shia little town out near Basra. And they say, 'We're poor, we've lived here all our lives, we don't have any money to move, and besides, we've been here for generations.' 

The second or third time that they're threatened — they come back and the militia kidnaps the father, takes the mother out to the back yard, hands the baby the mother is holding to the oldest girl, who is 7 years old, and shoot and kill the mother, in front of the kids.

The oldest boy, the 14-year-old, who I guess was at school, comes back and finds his four siblings gathered around their mother's body.

And then the neighbors and this resourceful 14-year-old kid, who feels sort of guilty now, get the kids to Syria, where they meet up with the Good Shepherd sisters.

The Good Shepherd sisters find out that there is a grandmother who the kids don't know in Germany who had emigrated earlier. They get her to Damascus, and she thinks she's going to take the kids back quickly to Germany, but she's only a permanent resident. And in Germany, like in the United States, there's no provision for grandparents to petition for immigration or permanent residence for their grandchildren. And so she's now caught in Damascus with these kids. I mean, it's just — it's horrifying.  And the German Embassy says how do we know these are really your grandkids? They could be anybody.

Sister Marie-Claude and the Good Shepherd sisters are organizing DNA testing to prove their relationship and try to keep the pressure on … Those stories get repeated 2 million times; I mean, there are 2 million refugees. So it's HUGE. It's a HUGE problem.

___

Another woman who just broke my heart is this 30-year-old nuclear engineer, she has her masters in nuclear engineering and did nuclear medicine with her father, and had a contract with Parson's to rehab a hospital outside of Baghdad. There, militia people — she didn't know who, what militia — came and threatened them for working with an American company and … we've got this commitment and so they stayed and kept working and she saw her father killed in front of her. But she kept working, and they came back and threatened her again, and finally her family said you have to flee, you have to flee.

Finally her husband went ahead to find a place in Lebanon — she had studied in Lebanon, so they knew some people there — with the last threat, she fled to Lebanon, but she is so traumatized by this whole experience that when she told us the story, we were in her little teeny one-room apartment in Lebanon, and she closes all the windows, and she closes the door, even though they were letting in the sunshine to warm the place up because it was so, so cold when we were there, and she brings us real close in the middle of the room and whispers to us her story because she's terrified she's being followed.

They've already moved three times in Beirut because she heard an Iraqi accent.

So the trauma — it's one thing to see violence and to experience violence, but the trauma continues. The post-traumatic stress disorder — it's a whole nation of people with it.

We worry so much with our military folks coming back with it. It is a national tragedy in Iraq …

The Good Shepherd sisters have organized this whole big collection of Syrians to do a settlement house to meet the needs of Iraqis living in the northern part of Damascus, a shelter for women and children, women who have been abused, tortured or widowed or this kind of thing, and a hotline for domestic violence, for Syrians and Iraqis — it's the first hotline for domestic violence in Syria.

President Assad's wife is the honorary co-chair of it. They also are taking food out to people who are caught at the border who can't get into Syria right now. Food and water.

I mean, [they're] doing amazing work.

You need to know that it is across religious lines — not just for Christians but for everybody.

Iowa Independent: So are they in camps?

"No, they're not. Which makes it in some ways harder. They're — most of the refugees are just spread around Damascus. Damascus went from being a city of 4 million to being a city of 5 million in just three years. It's a huge change.

They've had to go to double school shifts, because they're giving the Iraqi kids free access to education, but it's hard for the Iraqi kids, because the Syrian education is in Arabic and French, and the Iraqis' was just in Arabic. They don't speak French. So that's a challenge, but they're working on that.

They also don't have a real strong medical system and so are now asking for help. The Syrians didn't think this problem would last this long. So they're now asking for international assistance in responding to this crisis. Everybody in Syria just kept saying, 'But they're our brothers and sisters, of course we would respond,' when we were amazed at their generosity.

And we as a nation have only taken in 5,000 refugees when they have taken 1.5 million. You can tell I'm a little outraged.
___

The Good Shepherd sisters in Damascus have started with a huge network of Syrian people that they've organized … ordinary folks, all kinds of folks across all faith lines are working to meet the needs of the Iraqi refugees … the Syrian people have been so welcoming. I rode in a taxicab with Iraqis and the taxicab driver heard them speaking with an Iraqi accent and he would not take money from them for the fare …

He said, 'You people have had such a hard life, at least let me give you this ride. You don't have much money … '"

Since returning from their Middle East meetings with Iraqi families, U.N. officials and religious leaders, the Catholic contingent has recommended that resettlement applications be expedited so the U.S. can reach its goal of resettling 12,000 Iraqi people in fiscal year 2008. Five months into FY 2008, fewer than 2,000 Iraqi refugees have been admitted into the U.S.

The group presented its findings to Congress in February.

"And in addition to the refugees we saw, there's an additional 2 million people who are displaced within Iraq. It's a huge issue.

Congresswoman [Betty] McCollum [D-Minn.] says that she thinks the reason we aren't letting in more refugees is because if we let in more refugees, then the story of what is actually happening will get out. And the control of the message. That's her take on it.

I think this is a perfect reason why 'we the people' need to be on our toes and engaged. Because the politicians only can do what the people want and unless we make that really known people are nervous and are not likely to stick their necks out. But we the people can demand change. And that's the perfect example of where we need change.

`We the people,' as it says in the Constitution, need to wake up and take our responsibility seriously as citizens. And that all of the fear and apprehension and individualism that's been so ripe in our country has caused us to pull away from the actual engaging in our constitutional role as a people. And so my effort is to say that we need to make sure that our values and our commitment is expressed in the election.

Voting, voter education, voter turnout, but then more than that, that we stay awake after the election and hold our elected officials accountable."

Iowa Independent: And so how do we do that? How do we stay involved?

"Well, it's things such as being aware of the issues we care about in the election, but then making sure that they carry over into actual legislative agenda.

I always suggest that folks join Network. What we do is we track federal legislation from a values perspective, a common good perspective, and so that's one way to stay engaged.

But whatever people do, they need to remember that the Constitution says, 'We the people,' not 'We the politicians,' and to stay alert and engaged with policy after Nov. 4."

Campbell's "Saving Democracy" talk is part of a series on election year events organized by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) of Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.

But it was the death of a 7-year-old girl that became the “crystallization” of his conscientious objection to serving in Iraq.

Munford told a story about a friend, stationed in Iraq, who had been ordered to use a vehicle-mounted machine gun on an unresponsive civilian car in Baghdad traffic. The car was later revealed to contain a 7-year-old Iraqi girl, killed by the soldier’s bullets.

Not wanting to be put in the same position as his friend, to be ordered to fire on Baghdad motorists, Munford submitted a letter of intent to become a conscientious objector.

Munford gave a simple but frustrating description of the CO process:

1. It exists.
2. It is nearly impossible.

He said he was lucky to have been able to get out of serving in Iraq.

After researching CO status on the internet, he found that some internet sites were blocked at his base, so he used his own computer and connection to read about the CO process. He said the site Objector.org was one of the best, but none of the information he found was complete.

He described a harrowing, all-day “interview” with a Harvard Law School graduate who denied his objections. Munford said the Judge Advocate General officer had found every on-line post Munford had written, printed out his Myspace profile page, and had even found some letters written to newspapers and magazines.

He was given less than two weeks to rebut the JAG officer’s 23-page report.

His rebuttal was a success.

Munford said he is currently estranged from his father, a veteran. But his grandfather, a World War II  vet, supports his decision to become a CO.

Originally from Michigan, Munford said he moved to Iowa City because of his home state’s poor economy.

At the end of a discussion that included stories from four different Iraq veterans, Munford told the crowd he wanted to “push forward to a world where veterans are no longer needed.”

He also read a quote included his original CO letter of intent:

“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.”

– John F. Kennedy

Tanya Austin was an Arab linguist in military intelligence serving with the U.S. Army. Describing the situation in Iraq, she said, “It’s not a war anymore; its an occupation.” She is a student at Illinois State University pursuing a degree in Middle Eastern studies.

After blowing out her knee, Austin described the treatment she was given from the Veterans Health Administration (also known as the VA). Because she was denied orthopedic care, she paid for knee surgery out of her own pocket and was eventually medically discharged.

Austin said she had thoughts of suicide during her subsequent treatment and said, “The VA way of dealing with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is to drug you.”

She served from 2002-04 and testified at the recent Winter Soldier hearings in Silver Spring, Md.

Iowa City native and Iraq War veteran Andrew Duffy suffers from PTSD, but that didn’t stop him from founding the Iowa City chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Duffy is still serving in the Iowa Army National Guard and said he has taken some abuse for opposing the War in Iraq. He filed congressional complaints for harassment he said he has received.

Duffy served as a medic at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison from 2005-06. He listed many factors that have led to his opposition to the war,including improper equipment, insufficient training, bad intelligence, poor cultural training and overt anti-Iraqi racism.

In this video, he discusses the racist terminology and attitudes used by fellow soldiers stationed in Iraq:

The event was part of the University of Iowa Anti-War Committee’s “Peace Week,” which continues through Saturday.

Also on the panel were Navy vet Nathan Peld and Air Force vet Jason Munford, who raised a conscientious objection to military service and was discharged.

She spoke with the Iowa Independent after the event.

Cebula is the president of the Sisters of St. Francis in Clinton.

Ashford University psychology professor John Ivens read his vision of “What Peace Looks Like.” The full text was printed in the Clinton Times-Herald newspaper. He was preaching to the choir of peace proponents, save one person: Craig Johnson, who was at the event to support the war.

He carried a sign that read: “Except for Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism, and Communism, War Never Solved Anything.”

Judy Wick brought an Italian peace flag to the event. Her daughter carried the flag in Rome, Italy, at protests before the start of the war.

Wick said she carried the flag for both of her daughters. Her youngest daughter, Emily Wick, recently served in Iraq at Air Force bases in Baghdad and Kirkuk with the USAF.

Bilingual Maria Ramirez recited the Prayer of St. Francis in Spanish before she joined the crowd for the English translation.

And Mohammed Asaadi of the Clinton Islamic Society translated Muslim prayers for peace.

The closing prayer was led by Rev. Anthony Herald, Pastor of Jesus Christ Prince of Peace Parish.

More information about the Sisters of St. Francis can be found at: http://www.clintonfr…