2007.02.20: February 20, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Somalia: Politics: Congress: Iraq: Sheboygan Press: Tom Petri faces some tough questions on the home front about his vote against the Bush administration's plan to send more troops to Iraq
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2007.02.20: February 20, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Somalia: Politics: Congress: Iraq: Sheboygan Press: Tom Petri faces some tough questions on the home front about his vote against the Bush administration's plan to send more troops to Iraq
Tom Petri faces some tough questions on the home front about his vote against the Bush administration's plan to send more troops to Iraq
Petri backs having the major factions in Iraq, the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, govern areas of Iraq themselves, and told one questioner he wasn't trying to be "disrespectful to the president" with his vote last Friday. "The question also is being realistic about what you can accomplish and using the resources to accomplish that goal," Petri said. "And all I'm trying to say is that the Iraqis, I think have to police themselves internally." Congressman Tom Petri of Wisconsin served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Somalia in the 1960's.
Tom Petri faces some tough questions on the home front about his vote against the Bush administration's plan to send more troops to Iraq
Lawmaker faces questions from voters
By Bob Petrie
Sheboygan Press staff
U.S. Rep. Tom Petri faced some tough questions Monday on the home front about his vote against the Bush administration's plan to send more troops to Iraq.
Petri, a Republican from Fond du Lac who also represents the Sheboygan area in Congress, held a one-hour town hall meeting before about 20 people at Mead Public Library, with much of the time focused on his support of a nonbinding, Democratic-sponsored resolution to oppose deploying an additional 21,000 troops to the Iraq war.
Petri backs having the major factions in Iraq, the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, govern areas of Iraq themselves, and told one questioner he wasn't trying to be "disrespectful to the president" with his vote last Friday.
"The question also is being realistic about what you can accomplish and using the resources to accomplish that goal," Petri said. "And all I'm trying to say is that the Iraqis, I think have to police themselves internally."
Pam DeTroye, 51, of Oostburg, handed Petri a list of accomplishments that U.S. troops have attained in Iraq since the war began, and said the country needs to "stay the course" in the war to fight terrorism.
"I just think he (Petri) was not standing with our president at a time of war, and I am convinced there are good things happening over there that we don't hear about," she said after Petri's meeting.
Ted Bingham, 43, of Sheboygan, who fought in the first Iraq War, said Petri has a right to his opinion, but that troops in the current war need support from Americans.
"I remember what it was like to have the support back in Desert Storm, because it was worry about the troops I have trained (in Iraq now), my buddies that are being told by the government now we don't support what you're doing," Bingham said.
Frank Sterzen, 57, of Sheboygan Falls, said a different approach to fighting needs to be taken in Iraq.
"I applaud him for his stance," Sterzen said of Petri's vote. "I don't agree that we should pull out. I think that we need to find a way to win this war and it's not conventional warfare."
Petri, who said he is trying to work with the new Democratic majority in Congress in a bi-partisan way, said the questions show people are interested and concerned about Iraq, and that he wants the United States to be successful in combating terrorism there and elsewhere.
"I think it's more likely that relying on policing by each of the factions in Iraq of their own communities and supporting that will be a more effective way of doing it and it leaves resources for us to deal with terrorism in other places in the world," Petri said.
Reach Bob Petrie at bpetrie@sheboygan-press.com and 453-5129.
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Headlines: February, 2007; RPCV Tom Petri (Somalia) ; Figures; Peace Corps Somalia; Directory of Somalia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Somalia RPCVs; Politics; Congress; Iraq; Wisconsin
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Story Source: Sheboygan Press
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Somalia; Politics; Congress; Iraq
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