U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., is showing her moderate side and her more practical side as she jumps into the debate over what to do in Iraq.
In a speech given Friday to the National Press Club, Wilson said the United States must give up its attempt to democratize Iraq, according to the Albuquerque Journal. She has also said she opposes the troop increase most expect President Bush to announce on Wednesday.
Wilson is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Iraq. She said the situation there is “grave and not improving,” according to the Journal. She said a troop surge would make a short-term difference, but none in the long-term.
“We are beyond that now,” the Journal quoted her as saying. “(Iraqis) must own their neighborhoods. We can help them, but we cannot do it for them.”
Wilson said the United States shouldn’t focus on stopping sectarian violence between ethnic groups, and should focus on stabilizing the region and ridding it of al-Qaida terrorists.
“As cold as it sounds, the sectarian violence is not something we can stop by getting in the middle of it, and it is not in our vital national interest to do so,” the Journal quoted her as saying. “The American military should only be used to protect America’s vital interests.”
Wilson has shared her views with the Bush Administration. According to the Journal, she said in her speech that, as it became clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the Bush Administration shifted its focus to freedom and democracy for the Iraqi people.
“We all know that the intelligence was wrong, but perhaps because it was wrong there has been a tendency since the occupation to describe our goals in loftier rhetoric, and I think that’s a mistake,” the Journal quoted her as saying. “We always have to be focused on America’s vital interests. We can’t substitute our vital interest because the intelligence fell apart. … It is not vital to America’s national interest that Iraq remain a unified country, except to the extent that dissolution of Iraq as a strong nation contributes to regional instability.”
This is one of the reasons Wilson won her hotly contested House race last year: She’s not afraid to break with the Bush Administration, and do so publicly, winning many moderate Democratic friends. She is also immensely practical – sometimes even coldly practical – which resonates with the more libertarian voters in her district.
And unlike the Bush Administration and her fellow Republican House member from New Mexico, Steve Pearce, Wilson has been known from time to time to say things that will upset American corporations with interests in the Middle East.
Update, 1:30 p.m.
Wilson sent a letter to President Bush today formally laying out her arguments. You can read it by clicking here.
U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., is showing her moderate side and her more practical side as she jumps into the debate over what to do in