Informed Speculation

Two Republican congressmen who just returned from Iraq, Jack Kingston (who has his own blog here) of Georgia, and John Kline of Minnesota, spoke to us today (thanks as always to Patrick Ruffini of the RNC for setting this up). Here’s a little biographical info on the two, care of the RNC:

Congressman Jack Kingston has served the 1st District of Georgia for the last twelve years, and is currently Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference. As a member of the Appropriations committee, he serves on the Defense subcommittee which oversees all military-based funding. He is also an active blogger – both on his blog and as a regular contributor to RedState.org.

Congressman John Kline was elected to serve Minnesota’s 2nd District in 2002 and was re-elected in 2004. He is a 25-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, where his duties included service as a military aide to Presidents Carter and Reagan. He currently sits on the House Armed Services Committee.

Patrick Ruffini opened up with introductions, of course, starting with John Kline (who, as a little tidbit, carried the nuclear football for Reagan). Representative Kingston was late as he was meeting with the President when the call began (hmm, putting the President higher on the totem pole than me – can you believe it?).

Rep. Kline opened by taking a dig at Rep. Murtha’s ‘cut and run’ tactics, and saying that the vast majority of Americans know that failure is not an option. Kline shared an anecdote about a trip he took with his son, who is serving in Iraq, to visit a group of soldiers about to head to Iraq. He said morale was extremely high, but the soldiers were concerned with the negative reporting and the effect it might have on support for the mission.

Rep. Kline said he spent much of his time on his recent trip to Iraq reassuring people that there was no support for immediate withdrawal. He also said conditions were much calmer than the perception given by media coverage. Rep. Kline said he feels the Iraq Security Forces are gaining in confidence and skill.

I got the first question, and asked if the congressman had any sense of whether the average man on the street in Iraq has a full picture of the debate in America and was getting a ‘nuanced’ picture of the spectrum of both support and opposition in the U.S., i.e., do the Iraqis realize a significant number of us are in full support of the mission? Rep. Kline answered that he had not spent time with ordinary Iraqis, as his agenda was too full, but that media sources were abundant, including sources helpful and harmful to our cause. He also pointed out the vast numbers of satellite dishes, so we can feel pretty confident that at least some western media coverage is reaching Iraq.

Tim Chapman of Townhall.com had question #2 (you can read his account here), and asked whether Rep. Kline thought that the Democrats had overreached on opposition to Iraq and whether that would hurt them in 2006. Kline answered yes, and yes, contrasting the defeatism of Howard Dean with the responsible leadership of Joe Lieberman. Kline characterized the Democrats as having a wish, but not a plan.

Chapman followed up by questioning whether Rep. Kline agreed with Nancy Pelosi’s recent assertion that the majority of the Democratic side support her position. He said he does not believe that, nor is he even sure that Pelosi believes it.

Don Little (I may be wrong on the name, and I don’t have a link – if anyone does, please let me know in the comments) John Little, of Blogs of War, asked if any members of the western media travelled with the congressmen’s delegation, and what the impressions he gained of them might have been. Rep. Kline answered that the western media did not travel with them, but they did have a press conference with mostly Arabic speakers.

A followup was whether the Congressman had any thoughts on how to counteract the bad news drumbeat. The congressmen said that he is very thankful for blogs and other alternative outlets and that he was constantly dealing with frustration among members of the Armed Services who feel that the bad news was overwhelmingly stressed.

Rep. Kingston joined the call at this point and directed listeners to MRC for a study showing that there are 9 negative Iraq stories covered in the MSM for every positive one. Kingston then spoke for a few minutes about his trip to Iraq.

Rep. Kingston said there were three Republicans and three Democrats in the group and that they reached agreement on 80% of what they saw. Kingston stressed:

1. The morale of the troops is sky high.
2. Infrastructure is greatly improved. Kingston said that at the White House this morning President Bush said it is estimated that 30,000 new businesses have opened post-invasion.
3. Politically, there is great involvement in the upcoming elections from all quarters.

John Hawkins of Right Wing News asked the final question (his account is here). Hawkins asked if there was any feeling that Pelosi and company were trying to take credit for troop drawdowns that were going to happen anyway. Both congressmen answered that affirmatively, and Rep. Kingston mentioned that forces recently increased by 30,000 to 160,000 troops in anticipation of attempts to disrupt the elections. The majority of those 30,000 will be sent home or reassigned following the election, and Kingston said to look for rhetoric from the Democrats taking credit for this ‘victory’.

My thanks to the two congressmen and to Patrick Ruffini for the opportunity to participate…