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Local congressmen offer different views on Iraq war
Joint town meeting Congressman Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, and Congressman Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, appeared together at a joint town meeting on the Thomasville campus of Alabama Southern Community College Monday evening. Davis represents the Seventh Congressional District, which includes a portion of Clarke County, while Bonner represents the other part in the First Congressional District. This is the third joint meeting in Clarke County for the two congressmen since they were first elected. Iraq war a civil war Davis said the conflict is a civil war between Sunni Muslims and Shi'a Muslims. They have been fighting for centuries over the issue of who was to succeed the Prophet Muhammad and he said it isn't going to end anytime soon. He said he voted for the recent bill that passed the Democratic-controlled House calling for the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008. "We've gotten as much as we are going to get out of there," he explained. However, he said, "I absolutely respect the opinions of those who don't agree" with that assessment. The Senate, also controlled by the Democrats, passed a nonbinding measure last week supporting the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by next March. Davis said he would like to see President Bush get the leadership of both parties together. "Put them in a room and let's see if we can decide what we agree on. We know what we disagree on...We might decide that they [the Iraqis] need to govern themselves." Davis said the current Iraqi government is not supportive of the United States being in the country. "It is inexcusable for the [Iraqi] prime minister [Nouri al-Maliki] to say Iran and the United States are the same." Iran is Iraq's threatening neighbor to the north. Mobile soldier killed Sunday Bonner said a soldier from Mobile was killed in Iraq Sunday and that he had the unpleasant duty of calling the father Monday to offer condolences. "No one will be more excited when we are out of Iraq than I will be." Over 3,200 U.S. military personnel have been killed in hostilities in Iraq since the war started in 2003. One spending tracker has estimated the cost of the war at $414 billion. A questioner suggested that the Republicans were "blindly" following President Bush's Iraq policy but Bonner said that isn't the case. He said he voted against the bill setting a withdrawal date. The questioner had also observed that the Democrats were politicking with the issue by tying pork spending "carrots" to the withdrawal bill to get votes. Bonner partly defended the action, noting that it isn't unusual to tie items to a bill. "We had our share of missteps when we were in the majority." Met with Bush last week Bonner said he and other Republicans met with President Bush last week to discuss the House vote. Bush has said he will veto any legislation mandating a specific withdrawal date and Bonner said he supports the president. "I personally believe it is not wise to have 535 [the number of congressmen and senators] quasi commanders in-chief. I am not qualified to know what is best" regarding military strategy in Iraq. But Bonner said the House vote was a "powerful message" that the Iraq war must be addressed. He said he, too, would like to see more real dialog between U.S. leaders to find a solution to the war. "The big challenge will continue long after Iraq is part of the history books and President Bush is out of office...future presidents will have to confront very real threats," he concluded. After the exchange on the Iraqi war, Davis noted how he and Bonner had differed on the subject but could talk about it thoughtfully and sincerely. He said if the opposing sides on the national level could talk about the war in the same manner, some acceptable resolution could be reached.
The two congressmen agreed on almost every other issue addressed Monday. Most were local in nature, from the paving of a county dirt road to education concerns, FEMA issues and more.
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