A First Hand View of the Progress Made in Iraq

On Friday, October 17, I boarded an Air Force C-32, the military version of the Boeing 757-200, with eight other Members of Congress and traveled to Kuwait City, Kuwait and then to Baghdad and Mosul, Iraq.

It was a full 62 hours.

The CODEL consisted of thirty-six hours of flying time, seven formal meeting with Government and Military officials, a visit to a Baghdad elementary school, a delivery of 1,200 pounds of medical supplies to St. Raphael Hospital, a delivery of 2,000 donated phone cards, four donated air conditioners and visits with constituent military members and Baghdad residents. I had the honor of spending meal times with troops from Oklahoma, including soldiers from Ardmore, Lawton and Tuttle. Besides talking about the OU Sooners victory over Texas in football, the troops also talked about the conditions in Iraq and their overall moral.

The U.S. and coalition troops are doing an excellent job. They are in good spirits and the conditions in Iraq are getting better. Oklahomans expressed their steadfast commitment to the mission of liberating the people of Iraq. Although I believe there is a sufficient amount of troops on the ground in Iraq, the problem we will have to face is that our military is not large enough to rotate troops in a timely manner. Troops are being required to spend too much time away from their family, especially the National Guard and reservists.

While traveling through Baghdad and Mosul one thing that become starkly clear was that Iraq is not a rich country. Last week, during debate in both the House and the Senate, we discussed whether the money sent to Iraq should be in the form of a loan or a grant. It is even more evident to me now that it would be crippling to Iraq to burden them with additional loans while they are trying to rebuild their country after generations of neglect.

Conditions for the Iraqi's are increasing tremendously, although their economy is very poor. All schools and hospitals are up and operational. There are over 700,000 Iraqi troops that are already working with US forces to help maintain peace and order. The electrical grid is nearly back to pre-war levels: 4,400 megawatts -- yet the demand is 6,000 with growing demand when the economy improves. A generating capacity of 6,000 megawatts should be reached by next summer.

While we were in Iraq we were able to meet with Ambassador Paul Bremmer, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA); Ambassador Richmond, United Kingdom Special Representative to Iraq; Lt General Ric Sanchez, the senior U.S. military official in Iraq (Commanding General V Corps and Coalition Joint Task Force 7); Dr. David Kay, head of the Iraq Survey Group; Major General David Petraeus, Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division; Major General Martin Dempsey, Commanding General, 1st Armored Division; Colonel Russell Gold, Commander 3rd Brigade Combat Team; Governor Ghanim al Basso, Ninevah Province (Mosul); and Vice Governor Khasro Goran.

More than ever, after returning from this trip to Iraq, I am convinced that we are doing the right thing in Iraq. The suffering of the Iraqi people under Saddam's reign was immeasurable. Not only did he terrorize his own people, but also he was a threat to his neighbors and other peaceful countries. I believe we will see even more evidence of his Weapons of Mass Destruction programs in the months to come. After viewing first-hand the tremendous progress being made, I know that we can be successful in Iraq, but we must be patient. Although this could be a long process, we cannot afford the risk involved in leaving the country unstable and susceptible to future terror and corruption.