Page 2 of 2   <      

After Iraq Trip, Unshaken Resolve

Rep. Jan Schakowsky meets with Iraqi constituents at an Iraqi restaurant in her Chicago area district. The Illinois Democrat traveled to Iraq this month for a firsthand look at the situation, resolving to
Rep. Jan Schakowsky meets with Iraqi constituents at an Iraqi restaurant in her Chicago area district. The Illinois Democrat traveled to Iraq this month for a firsthand look at the situation, resolving to "listen and learn." What she heard strengthened her conviction that troops should begin coming home. (By Warren Skalski For The Washington Post)

Seated at the Venus, her white notebook in front of her, Schakowsky recounted some of the day's more vivid images. The irony of having to wear body armor to a meeting of Sunni and Shiite leaders to discuss their progress in working together. The creepy feeling when she examined the improvised explosive devices used to devastating effect against U.S. soldiers, from crude models activated by cellphones to sophisticated Iranian designs that Schakowsky described as "sleek copper bowls." The blasts of a simulated raid by Iraqi soldiers on a terrorism suspect's house. And the stifling heat that felt "like a hair dryer on the back of your neck."

She lost track of all the PowerPoint presentations that she and her colleagues sat through -- it was either five or six. "You would get these organizational charts that were all acronyms -- I mean like, 30 of them," Schakowsky recalled with a laugh. "And the danger of asking a question about them is it would add another 10 minutes" to the presentation.

One pleasant surprise was how much Schakowsky enjoyed the company of her Republican colleagues, including Reps. Phil Gingrey of Georgia, Jeff Miller of Florida and Thelma Drake of Virginia. They kidded each other, "We're going to all be best friends until the press releases come out."

And that's more or less how it unfolded. After the group returned from the trip, which also included visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Schakowsky and Gingrey offered opposite assessments during an appearance on Fox News. Drake's local newspaper in Newport News, the Daily Press, wrote an article about the contrast headlined "Drake, Democrats Tour Different Iraqs."

But it wasn't just Republicans who came away impressed after visiting Iraq. Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) announced that he will no longer support a timetable for withdrawal, warning of a "potentially catastrophic effect" on the region.

Schakowsky acknowledged that the military's presentation may have been effective. "If you took the briefings at their face value, without context, without bringing anything to it -- clearly they were trying to present that positive spin, and that's what [other lawmakers] took away from it."

Schakowsky said she asked U.S. officials about the consequences of withdrawal, and she conceded that "they painted a very dire picture." She looked again through her notebook for a Petraeus quote. "He said: 'If you don't like the humanitarian crisis, the refugees and the internally displaced people, you can't draw down. If you are concerned about these people, the humanitarian crisis, you should be for our staying here.' "

In the next room, her Iraqi Christian constituents were still waiting. Schakowsky said she didn't respond to Petraeus; she let the comment drift by. "I was not arguing," she said. "I wanted to see what his take was."


<       2

© 2007 The Washington Post Company