mindsquirt

I wrote a email to senator Lugar(R-Indiana) last week, asking him to repeal the title of supreme chancellor that senator palpatine has after the clone war is over. Oh wait, that was my letter to senator Organa. Seriously though, I did my civic duty and wrote him a short email, and my basic message was that we need more troops in Iraq. When I read any given report from any given soldier on the ground they all say that they need more troops. Every once and a while, there will be a hubub about the US going in to clean out a nasty nest of insurgents in one particular town. Which is good, but what you don't hear about is that we soon leave and the insurgents just come back in. If you have any experience playing Risk, you know this is a bad idea. Any 12 year old kid will tell you that.

Anyway, I used to think the problem was that we just plain didn't have any to spare, but recently I heard that we did have plenty to spare, they are just dicking around elsewhere. So I wrote him a email that politely asked him to get some troops in there so we can actually affect the region. I wanted to share his response, because this is the first time I have gotten a response that had some content outside of placation and pleasantries. This is most assuredly a generic letter that he sends any Indiana Hick bitching about the war, but it is still refreshing to see some kind of substance.

his response:

Dear Tim:

Thank you for contacting me. I appreciated the opportunity to learn about your opinions regarding our involvement in Iraq.

We are engaged in a difficult mission in Iraq, and the President and Congress must be clear with the American people about the stakes involved and the difficulties yet to come. Almost 1,800 heroic Americans have died in Iraq during the past two years. During the insurgency, thousands of Iraqi Muslims have been killed by other Muslims. Like the recent terrorist attacks in London, the continuing insurgent attacks in Iraq are tragic, senseless, and indiscriminate. Each day, the Iraqi people continue to show their resilience. They get back on the buses and open their shops for business. They return to their jobs as police, teachers, and doctors, and they continue to work for a peaceful, stable country.

The Coalition is working to train Iraqis as effectively as possible to take over security duties from American forces and to solidify Iraqi political development by establishing a constitution and electing a permanent government. As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I recently held a series of hearings to examine the security, economic, and political challenges that face Iraq. The goal of these hearings was to put forward ideas for advancing our goals in Iraq more quickly and efficiently. We asked our panel of experts whether the basic counterinsurgency strategy that we are pursuing is the right one. We asked whether it is possible to prevent infiltration of Iraq by foreign insurgents and whether it is feasible for other nations to assume a greater share of our border security burdens. We also asked how we can improve the critical process of training Iraqi forces, so that greater numbers of Iraqis will be capable of assuming the full range of security duties. And we discussed whether changes should be made to the current U.S. force structure in Iraq.

My hope is that the systematic evaluation presented in our hearings will serve to stimulate the Administration as they consider how to shape our future approach to security, political development and the enhancement of economic development and opportunities in Iraq.

I will closely follow these elections and other events in Iraq. Over the last thirty months, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has held a total of 29 hearings on Iraq to facilitate a wide-ranging public dialogue on the war, to examine the details of Administration policy and to put forward ideas to improve the situation. We will continue to closely follow, and to publicly examine, our progress in Iraq. You may be interested to visit the Committee website, where you can read more about this and other hearings pertaining to Iraq, at www.foreign.senate.gov <http://www.foreign.senate.gov>.

Thank you, again, for contacting me.

Sincerely,

Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator