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Senator Amy Klobuchar Returns from Iraq

Praises American Troops, Urges Speedy Transition to Iraqi Authority

March 20, 2007

(Washington, D.C.) After returning from a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Iraq, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar praised Minnesota troops for their service in Iraq and said that, after four years, the Iraqi government must finally overcome its dependency on America's military presence there.

Klobuchar traveled to Iraq on March 16-18 to meet with and thank Minnesota troops and to gather first-hand information about conditions in Iraq.

"The real hope for Iraq's future must ultimately come from the Iraqi people and their government," said Klobuchar. "They need to move forward with the political, security, economic and diplomatic solutions to end their own civil war."

Klobuchar spent Saturday in Baghdad meeting with U.S. military and diplomatic leaders as well as Iraqi government officials. She spent Sunday with American troops in the city of Fallujah, in Anbar Province, about 30 miles west of Baghdad.

During her trip. Klobuchar met with a number of Minnesota soldiers serving in Iraq. They included members of the Duluth-based 148th Fighter Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard and the Fort Snelling-based Army Reserve 847th Battalion. She met individual National Guard members from Appleton, Bloomington, Burnsville, Duluth, Minneapolis, Rochester, Roseville and St. Paul. She also met with several active-duty Marines from Minnesota serving in Fallujah.

Klobuchar said she is calling and conveying messages to family members of Minnesota soldiers she met in Iraq.

On the way back to the U.S., Klobuchar stopped at Ramstein Air Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany to meet with injured American soldiers.

Klobuchar said that American soldiers in Iraq are working hard to train Iraqi security forces, which is necessary for Iraq's successful transition away from a dependency on American military troops. She said that U.S. military leaders in Iraq were candid about prior mistakes, including the dismantling of the Iraqi army and police.

Klobuchar cautioned: "After four years in Iraq, an open-ended American combat presence sends the wrong message to the Iraqi government about its own responsibility to take control and secure a basic level of stability for the country."

Klobuchar said that Iraq has great economic potential, with its abundance of oil and fertile farmlands along its river valleys.

Klobuchar said she supports the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's recommendation for a phased redeployment of U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by next spring, but with continued help to train police and conduct targeted counter-terrorism operations.

Klobuchar traveled to Iraq with two Republicans, Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as well as one Democrat, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

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