*EPF409 10/30/2003
U.S. Congressional Delegation Says Iraq is "Coming Back to Life"
(Military war may be over, but not the war on terrorism) (910)

By Jacquelyn S. Porth
Washington File Security Affairs Writer

Washington -- Representative Sue Kelly, who has just returned from visiting Iraq as part of a U.S. congressional delegation, says she saw "a country that's coming back to life."

Kelly (Republican, New York), who says she still has Iraqi dust on her boots, attested to the fact that farmers are tilling their fields and children are back in school. There is food in the stores and traffic jams in major Iraqi cities such as Mosul and Baghdad, she said. Although it is not being well reported in major media outlets, the elected official said, "the common ordinary life of Iraq is going on."

Kelly said the military war is over in Iraq with the coalition in "total command of the skies. We can move around at will in the country." At the same time, however, she said the war that is now being fought on the ground in Iraq is against terrorism.

"The terrorists are coming in from outside. They are being supplied, in a way, from outside...and what they are doing is trying to disrupt the peace which has broken out all over Iraq," according to Kelly.

Kelly made her observations to reporters at the Pentagon October 30 alongside her fellow delegation members: Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican, Florida), Carolyn McCarthy (Democrat, New York), Jennifer Dunn (Republican, Washington), Darlene Hooley (Democrat, Oregon), Marsha Blackburn (Republican, Tennessee), Katherine Harris (Republican, Florida) and Deborah Pryce (Republican, Ohio). Pryce, who served as head of the delegation and is chairman of the House Republican Conference, said "the war on terror continues." And that war, she said, is "being fought, right now, in Iraq by Iraqi and United States military...fighting side-by-side." There are now some 85,500 Iraqis providing security (regular police, border police, Civil Defense Corps members, new Army recruits, and guards handling facility protection) as well as some 130,000 U.S. troops and 24,000 other coalition forces.

The delegation traveled to Iraq October 23-24 to witness the status of Iraq's infrastructure firsthand, gauge reconstruction efforts, visit U.S. military forces, and meet with Iraqi women in order to understand the effect war has had on them and their families, according to Pryce.

On the subject of women and governance, Pryce said that a truly secular and representative government in Iraq must include women. Part of the purpose of their visit, she said, was to encourage involvement by the women of Iraq in the government process. Helping those women will be part of an ongoing process, she added, "and we expect to continue to see more and more Iraqi women involved" in Iraq's new fledgling democracy.

Hooley, for example, said one of her goals was to make sure that women are included on the committee that is writing Iraq's new constitution. It is important for Iraqi women to be involved, she said, because they are "an important part of society," representing some 61 to 65 percent of the population. "Their voices," she said, "need to be heard."

Ros-Lehtinen said the delegation met with Iraqi women "from all walks of life." Those women, she said, "are the future of a new Iraq ... that we hope will be free, democratic, pluralistic...."

Dunn said the delegation met with lots of women, including those who were in training at a police academy to become security officers. Kelly noted that some 77 percent of Iraqi women are illiterate. "We need to help...teach...(and) train them," she said.

On the subject of security and a recent upswing in terrorist attacks against coalition forces, McCarthy said the military is ready. She also pointed out that some 100,000 Iraqi criminals were released into the streets just before the Iraq war began, thereby contributing to general lawlessness.

Blackburn said the trip was "filled with sobering moments." She also said: "We know that every single day the terrorists and the remnants of Saddam's regime have that noose pulled a little bit tighter around them; they're like caged animals, and they're striking back." But at the same time, she said Iraq is becoming safer with the destruction of some 100 tons of weapons, daily.

Harris said Iraqis themselves are reporting intelligence to coalition troops that helps foil ambush attacks. They are doing so, she said, because they are encouraged by various demonstrable successes since the war's end including the reopening of some 240 hospitals and clinics, the operation of 1,628 schools, an improved electrical power grid, and a monetary system which has proved resilient.

McCarthy also emphasized the importance of focusing on doing "a really good job in Iraq so that we will also make sure that it's free there, and in my opinion, that will spread to other countries."

The delegation held their press conference October 30 following a breakfast meeting with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers, Under Secretary of Defense Dov Zakheim, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy Douglas Feith, Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs Powell Moore, in which they shared their impressions of Iraq.

The return of this delegation from Iraq brings to 93 the total number of House of Representatives members who have traveled there since May 1. Two dozen senators also have visited Iraq.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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