Rep. Curt Weldon Says There May Still Be WMD In Iraq, Total Bullshit
Weldon, Sestak battle over U.S. withdrawal from Iraq
http://www.delcotimes.com/site/index...id=18171&rfi=8
06/08/2006
By WILLIAM BENDER wbender@delcotimes.com VALLEY FORGE -- Democratic congressional candidate Joseph Sestak on Wednesday called for setting a withdrawal date for U.S. troops in Iraq, while U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon reiterated that the disengagement should be linked to the training of Iraqi defense and security forces.
Sestak, a retired Navy admiral and former defense adviser for President Clinton, said the 132,000 American troops serving in Iraq should be re-deployed by the end of 2007 at the latest -- ideally within one year from today.
Setting a date would serve as a "catalyst for change in Iraq" and force Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to resolve their differences, he said, adding that U.S. troops should be fighting terrorism elsewhere.
"Iraq was not the center of terrorism when we went in," Sestak said at a press conference at Valley Forge National Historic Park. "Osama bin Laden is still missing. I don’t think he’s in Iraq."
Weldon, R-7, of Thornbury, said he supports a milestone-based withdrawal plan instead of a deadline that would "transmit to the enemy our intentions."
"Every military general says the worst thing you can do is put a date certain on when troops should come home," said Weldon, a 10-term incumbent and vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Under Weldon’s plan, the drawdown of American troops would be based on the ability of Iraqi troops to stand on their own.
Weldon, who voted for the October 2002 resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, accused Sestak of politicizing the war and said he should have opposed it when he was in the Navy.
"If you’re being paid as a military leader, you ought to have the backbone to stand up for what you believe in," the congressman said.
Sestak, a former deputy chief of naval operations and first director of Deep Blue, the Navy’s anti-terrorism group, said that statement shows Weldon does not understand how the military functions.
"When you are given command of a combat force you are responsible and accountable for preparing those men and women for what this nation directs," he said. "If it is not morally reprehensible, it is your duty to do that. We cannot have a military that just walks away because they disagree on a policy or a judgment."
While Sestak said Iraq was "not a clear nor a present danger" because no weapons of mass destruction have been found, Weldon said he knows of four sites in Basra and Nasiriyah that have yet to be searched for biological or chemical weapons.
"I think the jury is still out on WMD," said Weldon, who also believes Saddam Hussein may have smuggled the weapons to Syria with Russian assistance prior to the March 2003 invasion.
As of Wednesday morning, 2,438 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. Total U.S. spending in Iraq and Afghanistan would reach nearly $400 billion -- with more than three-quarters going to Iraq -- under a bill a House-Senate committee is negotiating, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Hours before his press conference, Sestak came under attack from the Weldon campaign, which accused him of misusing his position in the Clinton administration more than a decade ago.
Weldon campaign chairman Michael Puppio said Sestak should take responsibility for what he said was a scheme to funnel $100,000 from Enron Corp. to the Democratic National Committee by threatening in 1995 to cut off U.S. aid to Mozambique if the African nation refused to let Enron develop its natural gas fields.
Sestak said he had no involvement with Enron as the National Security Council’s director for defense policy.
"Mozambique?" he asked, appearing confused by Puppio’s allegation. "I’m sorry, I don’t know what they’re talking about."
