Himes: Mission not accomplished in Iraq
(from Stamford Advocate, Friday, May 02, 2008)
In commemoration of the fifth anniversary of President Bush's speech declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq, Democratic congressional candidate Jim Himes yesterday said the war and other issues are still unresolved.
Himes, a Greenwich resident who heads a New York City nonprofit housing agency, is running against longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, in the 4th Congressional District. It's the state's only Republican-held district.
Flanked by supporters at Norwalk City Hall, holding signs reading "Mission not accomplished: $4 gas, record oil prices" and "Mission not accomplished: Osama bin Laden still at large," Himes yesterday said domestic concerns been hurt by the time and money spent on fighting the war in Iraq.
Himes made reference to Bush's May 1, 2003, landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where he stood before a banner reading "mission accomplished," and announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
The White House and Navy have said the banner was the Navy's idea, but the event has dogged the president as a symbol of how the Bush administration underestimated the complexity of the war.
"Like so much else about the Bush administration, that was an act of pure theater, a veneer of theater covering gross incompetence," Himes said.
Himes estimated 4th Congressional District residents have contributed $3.1 billion to the war that could have gone toward funding universal health care, No Child Left Behind mandates and renewable sources of energy, among other initiatives.
"These are things we need to do, and we need to start doing them now. We are dealing with fewer resources because of the pressures of the war," Himes said. "This middling road of babysitting a civil war is ridiculous. We need to indicate our seriousness about leaving by actually leaving."
Himes supports beginning a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq immediately while Shays has advocated a timeline to remove them gradually, but has voted three times against proposed timelines in Congress.
Shays' campaign manager, Michael Sohn, said the proposed timelines were not "realistic" and said Shays, who has visited Iraq 20 times, has been a vocal critic of the war.
"Chris Shays hasn't stood by and agreed, Chris Shays has been critical and is offering solutions and spending time with our troops on the ground and getting real answers to what's happening," Sohn said.
Himes' campaign manager, Maura Keaney, said what Shays says and does are two different things.
"His real power in Congress is where he votes," Keaney said. "The most recent timeline was proposed by the Iraq Study Group, which (Shays) claimed to support. But now he says that's not realistic and moves the goalpost back another year, and another year, and now five years have gone by."
Sohn said the 4th District has not been neglected under Shays.
"(Chris) been very focused on several things to deal with the issues all Americans are facing today from the Responsible Energy For Our Future Act, to bipartisan legislation for health care reform as well as his initatives urging the Department of Defense to stop the use of stop-loss policies as well as making sure that money is coming home to the district," Sohn said.
Himes said the war has distracted Shays.
"We have built highways, cured diseases and put a man on the moon. We are a nation that accomplishes missions and we will do that with new focus and new ideas, and most importantly reflecting on our representation in the 4th District, we will do it with new leadership," Himes said.
