August 27, 2003 - Hartford Courant: RPCV Congressman Chris Shays says Iraq Effort Needs Allied Help

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2003: August 2003 Peace Corps Headlines: August 27, 2003 - Hartford Courant: RPCV Congressman Chris Shays says Iraq Effort Needs Allied Help

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RPCV Congressman Chris Shays says Iraq Effort Needs Allied Help





Read and comment on this story from the Hartford Courant that RPCV Congressman Chris Shays says Iraq effort needs Allied help. Speaking by phone from Kuwait, where he was spending the night between day trips into Iraq, Shays said it's clear that U.S. forces and humanitarian organizations working in the country need help - from the United Nations and from traditional U.S. allies.
"We need the U.N. in here to help organize and augment the work of these [humanitarian] organizations," said Shays, who has been in Iraq with a congressional delegation and with the Connecticut-based humanitarian group Save the Children. "We need the French, the British and the Germans in here," he said, to provide military police and to help reconstruct the nation's infrastructure.
Shays called on the Bush administration to "show a little more flexibility" by softening its position against allowing other countries to participate in re-building Iraq under the auspices of the U.N. Read the story at:

Shays: Iraq Effort Needs Allied Help*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Shays: Iraq Effort Needs Allied Help

August 27, 2003

By LIZ HALLORAN, Courant Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. effort to rebuild post-war Iraq must be internationalized with more money provided to get the devastated country up and running, Connecticut Rep. Christopher Shays said Tuesday.

Speaking by phone from Kuwait, where he was spending the night between day trips into Iraq, Shays said it's clear that U.S. forces and humanitarian organizations working in the country need help - from the United Nations and from traditional U.S. allies.

"We need the U.N. in here to help organize and augment the work of these [humanitarian] organizations," said Shays, who has been in Iraq with a congressional delegation and with the Connecticut-based humanitarian group Save the Children.

"We need the French, the British and the Germans in here," he said, to provide military police and to help reconstruct the nation's infrastructure.

Shays called on the Bush administration to "show a little more flexibility" by softening its position against allowing other countries to participate in re-building Iraq under the auspices of the U.N.

"They need more people here, but it doesn't have to be Americans," said Shays, a conscientious objector during Vietnam who supported the Iraqi war, but has consistently advocated internationalizing the effort.

Shays, chairman of a House subcommittee looking into national security, said that he supports emergency supplemental funding for the ongoing postwar effort.

In the British-controlled Iraqi city of Basra, where he traveled with Save the Children over the weekend, Shays says he saw "a city of 2 million people that didn't seem to care about itself."

"There was trash everywhere, buildings in disrepair, hustle and bustle and people everywhere," he said, noting that he arrived in the city on the day three British soldiers were killed.

Shays visited a youth center run by Save the Children, and spoke with a doctor at a hospital that had no oxygen for patients and lacked medicines.

"It was pretty bad," said Shays, who was a Peace Corps volunteer.

Save the Children has 14 youth centers in Iraq and is engaged in a variety of projects, including helping rebuild Basra's waterworks and attempting to help train Iraqis to do the work.

Shays, expected to leave the Middle East for home today, met up with the congressional delegation, led by Virginia GOP Rep. Tom Davis, and has been traveling from Kuwait into Iraq to cities, including Baghdad.



April 29, 2003 - Rep. Shays Calls For Rebuilding Iraq Quickly





Caption: RCPV Congressman Chris Shays visiting a school on the West Bank.

Read and comment on this story from NBC30 on April 29, 2003 that RPCV Congressman Chris Shays says that that the military victory there could be "marred" if rebuilding that country is not made a top priority. He recently returned from a trip abroad to Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

During his trip Shays was the first Congressman to visit Iraq, crossing the border from Kuwait against the wishes of the Army and State Department. "We now have to win the peace in Iraq and that's going to be very difficult," Shays said. "If we fail to bring some stability to that area, then the whole effort will have been marred."

Nongovernment organizations such as Save the Children play a vital role in helping Iraq rebuild, Shays said. He complained during his trip that humanitarian aid wasn't getting to the Iraqi people fast enough. "Rebuilding Iraq is huge and you need to get the NGO's in there," Shays said. "I just think we need to be there and moving more quickly and more open arms to get the NGOs all throughout Iraq. We don't have a lot of time. The Iraqi people need to see they're in charge pretty soon." Read the story at:


Rep. Shays Calls For Rebuilding Iraq Quickly*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Rep. Shays Calls For Rebuilding Iraq Quickly

Shays Says Iraq Rebuilding, Palestinian-Israel Conflict Urgent

POSTED: 9:07 a.m. EDT April 29, 2003
NORWALK, Conn. -- U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, the first member of Congress to visit war-torn Iraq, said that the military victory there could be "marred" if rebuilding that country is not made a top priority.

Shays, R-Conn., bucked protests from the U.S. military and the State Department and traveled into Iraq on April 16 with a convoy of aid workers from the Westport-based charity Save the Children. He defended his right to see the situation firsthand, and said he was struck by the level of poverty, noting that there was no running water, few buildings and many children in the streets.

"We now have to win the peace in Iraq and that's going to be very difficult," Shays said. "If we fail to bring some stability to that area, then the whole effort will have been marred."

Nongovernment organizations such as Save the Children play a vital role in helping Iraq rebuild, Shays said. He complained during his trip that humanitarian aid wasn't getting to the Iraqi people fast enough.

"Rebuilding Iraq is huge and you need to get the NGO's in there," Shays said. "I just think we need to be there and moving more quickly and more open arms to get the NGOs all throughout Iraq. We don't have a lot of time. The Iraqi people need to see they're in charge pretty soon."

He praised the military for its success in Iraq and pointed out the important role women in the military played in winning the war. He also predicted U.S. forces will find evidence of weapons of mass destruction, but said it may take time. Following his journey into Iraq, Shays joined a congressional delegation that met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. It was the first high-level meeting between U.S. officials and Arafat since President Bush effectively boycotted him in June. The talks, however, were not sanctioned by the State Department.

Shays said the group also met with other Palestinians, including doctors, lawyers and students.

"Almost every school had a blown out building next to it," Shays said.

Wherever he went in the region, Arabs brought up the conditions that Palestinians live in and urged the United States to be fair in efforts to win a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, Shays said.

"We have to see major success in our effort between Israel and Palestine," Shays said.

Shays said that he was "somewhat disheartened" to hear reports from independent observers of abuses by Jewish settlers in Hebron. He also questioned Israeli security measures in Ramallah and suggested Israel was engaged in collective punishment. He described himself as a strong supporter of Israel and said that he met with Palestinians after some of his constituents asked if he had spent much time with Palestinians and he said he had not.




Click on a link below for more stories on PCOL

8/17/03
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Iraq; Congress; COS - Fiji

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