Rep. Bean says conditions improving in Iraq
BARRINGTON -- Conditions in Iraq are improving, and Iraqi troops are making strides toward taking over security in that country, U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean said Thursday.
“What I would say I was struck by, as far as the difference from when I was there almost exactly two years ago, is along from hearing from the leadership that there was a decrease in violence, you could see it and feel it,” Bean, a Barrington Democrat, said following a weekend trip to Iraq. “Anxiety levels were certainly not where they used to be.”
Her statements, made during a conference call, came in the immediate wake of the war reaching a grim milestone.
The U.S. military announced this week the deaths of six U.S. soldiers, making 2007 the deadliest year of the war for Americans. The announcement brought the 2007 total to 853, three more American troops than were killed in the last milestone year, 2004.
But the milestone came despite a slow-down in casualties and a sharp drop in roadside bombings that the Pentagon said can be linked to Iran.
Bean said the numbers do not contradict her assertion that conditions in the country are improving.
“There’s no question that it’s only in recent months that we’ve seen some of that [violence] drop off,” she said. “There’s no question that one can’t say it’s been a year of great loss.”
The representative – whose 8th district spans sections of Lake, Cook and McHenry counties – visited the front lines last weekend with members of the House Armed Services Committee’s Terrorism and Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. Bean sits on neither committee, but has historically voted in favor of the war.
Most recently, Bean was one of 59 Democrats to oppose a resolution setting a timeline for troop and civilian contractors’ withdrawal from Iraq. The measure, which would have given the Defense Department 180 days to redeploy American troops, was defeated 255-171 in May.
Bean’s trip was Nov. 2 through Monday and gave her the chance to meet, first-hand, with U.S. troops in a section of Baghdad known as the Green Zone.
The improvements there over two years ago, Bean said, are noticeable.
“Certainly, the hospitals have less incoming [patients], there have been less attacks on the Green Zone,” Bean said. “When I was there [before], there would be shellings outside the Green Zone on a regular basis.”
Libby Pappalardo, a leading war opponent and member of the McHenry County Peace Group, said the visible improvements could be attributed to insurgents relocating away from Baghdad.
“I do know people in the Green Zone are very heavily guarded,” Pappalardo said. “They don’t always get a realistic idea of the amount of violence that’s happening in Iraq.
“I hope that what she says is true, but I would just question it because I think so many people who have gone over there and are limited to the Green Zone did not see the extent of the violence.”
U.S. Army Spc. Bryan Henning, a 22-year-old Woodstock native, agreed with Bean’s assessment of the war zone. Henning returned to McHenry County on leave last month, after a 15-month deployment to Iraq.
From his perspective, Henning said, the situation in Iraq has improved. While he said there wasn’t talk of a timeline, per se, there are signs that could point to a troop withdrawal.
“The Iraqi Army’s up and coming,” he said. “They’ve got a bunch of vehicles of their own, they’ve got uniforms, they have [heavy artillery] now.
“Nobody’s murdering women and children. I have pictures of me playing soccer with the kids. We help out the Iraqi people. It’s not so much fighting anymore, we’re just building.”
