Walz goes after Gutknecht on Iraq
This got pushed aside in all the Entenza stuff the last few days, but a debate about a major issue has actually broken out in the 1st District congressional race. Here's how the AP reported what Rep. Gil Gutknecht had to say on a conference call after he returned from Iraq earlier this week:
"The United States can do so much to help them, but in the end, this is their country, and it's about their future," he said.
"And we have been training the Iraqis, and they are stepping up, and they are leading the fight in many of the areas of the country now."
He said it would be a mistake to send more troops to secure Baghdad.
"What we need to be doing right now is starting to withdraw some of the Americans, and that will force the Iraqis to step up and take responsibility, as they have in the northern parts of the country, in the Kurdish region," Gutknecht said.
"Sending more Americans right now I think would send the message to the Iraqis that they're not responsible for their own future. We have to make sure that they understand that they are."
But Gutknecht rejected a call made by some Democrats for a timetable for withdrawal.
"I think we're going to have a military presence there for some time to come - in part to protect the Iraqis from outside intervention," he said.
But he added: "I think it's time to take off the training wheels of this bicycle. And we have to allow the Iraqis, as our children do sometimes when they're learning to ride that bicycle - they may fall, they may stumble - but we need to help them get up and get on that bicycle again."
And here's the latest from the Tim Walz campaign:
(MANKATO)
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