The following excerpt is from the article “Ehlers Addresses Iraq, Changes in Congress, and other Legislative Issues at Grand Rapids Meeting“:
Ehlers also discussed the Iraq War and stated that “war is very dominant on almost everything that we do.” He said that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the way the war has gone. He asserted that “in some ways it is not even a war,” referencing how President Harry Truman “got in trouble” for calling the Korean War “a police action”–and while the argument was incomplete–seemed to be referencing the fact that few people thought the war would turn out this way. Representative Ehlers claimed that he was “one of the few” who warned the Pentagon about what he thought would happen In Iraq once the invasion was over. Ehlers explained to the audience that before the war started he talked to then Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz “a couple of times” and then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to express his concerns. He said that he agreed with the administration that the United States could go in with 150,000 soldiers and depose Saddam Hussein but that he had questions about what would happen next. According to Ehlers, Wolfowitz responded by stating that the people of Iraq will greet us as liberators and that oil revenues will pay for it. Ehlers then told Wolfowitz to his face that “you [Wolfowitz] are incredibly naive.” Ehlers asserted that he “is not proud” of the way some in the administration decided to go to war and said that he “wished we would have gone in with better knowledge” of what would happen after the war. He also said that he wished someone in the Bush administration would have lived abroad because they would then understand that cultures are different and would have understood that the Iraqis would not welcome the United States.
Of course, while Ehlers’ story of expressing frustration before the war is interesting, he left out the fact that he voted to give President Bush the authority to attack Iraq and that he himself has repeatedly made statements supporting the war. In the months before the March 2003 invasion, Representative Ehlers described the consequences of nuclear weapons being detonated over Calder Plaza and accepted the administration’s assertions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Most of his statements on Iraq were cautiously worded and expressed minor concerns over the war in Iraq, but Ehlers consistently supported the assertions of the Bush administration and did nothing of substance to halt the invasion, nor has he done anything since the invasion to end the occupation of Iraq. Ehlers touched on recent efforts in Iraq stating that he “wants to see a surge in diplomatic efforts” rather than the “so-called surge” that President George W. Bush launched, yet he voted against a resolution rejecting “the surge.” With regard to “the surge,” Ehlers said today that he “doesn’t understand why president is making a big deal of it [the surge]” because bigger troop rotations happen all the time. He did state that the “cost of war in dollars and people lost is something that is going to bother us for a long time” and that “it certainly will bother me for a longtime,” arguing that now the question is “how do we stabilize region and get out.” He reiterated his opposition to a deadline or timetable for withdrawal, stating that such proposals are “utterly stupid” and that you do not “tell other people involved when you are getting out.” He said that the United States has a “moral obligation to people of Iraq” and claimed responsibility for the situation in Iraq when he said that “we created mess as far as I am concerned.” He concluded by stating that he is “not trying to sugar coat” what is happening in Iraq “but that he is hoping progress will help.” He pointed towards recent efforts to get neighboring countries involved and progress in Iraq including Anbar province chieftains fighting al-Qaeda, Shiite death squads disbanding, and bombing and executions decreasing. He attributed the last two to President Bush’s troop surge.