QUOTE
Vermont governor wants troops home
Amid serious casualties, he urges pullout plan
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff | December 19, 2005
Governor James H. Douglas of Vermont, a Republican whose state has lost more soldiers per capita in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other in the United States, said last week that the Bush administration and Congress should prepare a withdrawal plan to bring troops home from Iraq.
''I certainly hope and pray that the Congress and the administration will work together to design an exit strategy and bring our troops home as soon as possible," Douglas said in a telephone interview on Friday.
Douglas spoke as he welcomed 600 Vermont National Guard soldiers home from Kuwait, where they served for a year in support of the war. Several planes of soldiers landed in Burlington, where they were greeted by family, friends, and Christmas carols and patriotic songs played by a National Guard band.
Douglas also said that given the apparent success of the national election last week in Iraq, it should be largely up to the Iraqis to decide when the United States should pull out of the country.
''It's up to them," he said. ''They ought to be the ones to make the call as to whether they feel their security is adequate and their infrastructure is prepared to assume responsibility for the country."
''I think it has to be," added Douglas, who may run for for re-election next year. ''Our goal is not to stay in Iraq any longer than we have to."
The question of when the United States should bring its troops home has dominated headlines in recent weeks.
An increasing number of Democrats have called for a quick pullout, but many Republicans, including Bush and other top administration officials, say that an exit now would undo much of what has been accomplished since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The president reemphasized that stand last night in a speech to the nation.
The debate flared a month ago when US Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, a former Marine Corps colonel and the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees military funding, called for a quick troop pullout in an emotional speech on Capitol Hill.
Blaming the White House strategy, Murtha said US troops have performed valiantly but ''cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily."
Murtha's comments drew a harsh rebuke from congressional Republicans and helped spur Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to give a series of speeches defending the war.
Iraq also emerged as a central theme of the annual conference of the Republican Governors Association two weeks ago in California, where Douglas and other Republican governors tried to dispel suggestions that the war would hamper efforts to elect Republican gubernatorial candidates next fall.
Several governors at the event rejected calls by Democrats to set a specific timetable for withdrawl.
''I've never known us to run any war by a calendar," said Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia, attacking Democrats for partisanship. ''I don't think you run this war by a calendar."
In August, Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts warned that a premature withdrawl would inspire terrorists worldwide and rejected the idea of a timetable.
''The enemy is emboldened by anything other than the strength of America," he said at the time.
Fifteen residents of Vermont have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most per capita in the country, according to a tally kept by the Associated Press. Thirty-three soldiers from Massachusetts have died there.
In Burlington on Friday , a band broke into ''I'll Be Home For Christmas" as a massive hangar door opened and the first of the 600 returning soldiers marched in. The formation did not hold for long as the Guard members broke rank and fell into the arms of their waiting family and friends.
The emotions of returning in a snowstorm in the holiday season were summed up in just a single word by many Guard members.
''Awesome," said Dolores Thompson, 47, of Stowe.
The returning Guard members returned a week ago to Gulfport, Miss. They had spent a year in Kuwait at US military bases.
There are still about 400 Vermont National Guard members in Iraq. Most are serving in Ramadi, a restive city about 75 miles west of Baghdad. There are other Vermont soldiers elsewhere in Iraq, in Saudi Arabia, and in Afghanistan.
Amid serious casualties, he urges pullout plan
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff | December 19, 2005
Governor James H. Douglas of Vermont, a Republican whose state has lost more soldiers per capita in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other in the United States, said last week that the Bush administration and Congress should prepare a withdrawal plan to bring troops home from Iraq.
''I certainly hope and pray that the Congress and the administration will work together to design an exit strategy and bring our troops home as soon as possible," Douglas said in a telephone interview on Friday.
Douglas spoke as he welcomed 600 Vermont National Guard soldiers home from Kuwait, where they served for a year in support of the war. Several planes of soldiers landed in Burlington, where they were greeted by family, friends, and Christmas carols and patriotic songs played by a National Guard band.
Douglas also said that given the apparent success of the national election last week in Iraq, it should be largely up to the Iraqis to decide when the United States should pull out of the country.
''It's up to them," he said. ''They ought to be the ones to make the call as to whether they feel their security is adequate and their infrastructure is prepared to assume responsibility for the country."
''I think it has to be," added Douglas, who may run for for re-election next year. ''Our goal is not to stay in Iraq any longer than we have to."
The question of when the United States should bring its troops home has dominated headlines in recent weeks.
An increasing number of Democrats have called for a quick pullout, but many Republicans, including Bush and other top administration officials, say that an exit now would undo much of what has been accomplished since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The president reemphasized that stand last night in a speech to the nation.
The debate flared a month ago when US Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, a former Marine Corps colonel and the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees military funding, called for a quick troop pullout in an emotional speech on Capitol Hill.
Blaming the White House strategy, Murtha said US troops have performed valiantly but ''cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily."
Murtha's comments drew a harsh rebuke from congressional Republicans and helped spur Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to give a series of speeches defending the war.
Iraq also emerged as a central theme of the annual conference of the Republican Governors Association two weeks ago in California, where Douglas and other Republican governors tried to dispel suggestions that the war would hamper efforts to elect Republican gubernatorial candidates next fall.
Several governors at the event rejected calls by Democrats to set a specific timetable for withdrawl.
''I've never known us to run any war by a calendar," said Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia, attacking Democrats for partisanship. ''I don't think you run this war by a calendar."
In August, Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts warned that a premature withdrawl would inspire terrorists worldwide and rejected the idea of a timetable.
''The enemy is emboldened by anything other than the strength of America," he said at the time.
Fifteen residents of Vermont have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most per capita in the country, according to a tally kept by the Associated Press. Thirty-three soldiers from Massachusetts have died there.
In Burlington on Friday , a band broke into ''I'll Be Home For Christmas" as a massive hangar door opened and the first of the 600 returning soldiers marched in. The formation did not hold for long as the Guard members broke rank and fell into the arms of their waiting family and friends.
The emotions of returning in a snowstorm in the holiday season were summed up in just a single word by many Guard members.
''Awesome," said Dolores Thompson, 47, of Stowe.
The returning Guard members returned a week ago to Gulfport, Miss. They had spent a year in Kuwait at US military bases.
There are still about 400 Vermont National Guard members in Iraq. Most are serving in Ramadi, a restive city about 75 miles west of Baghdad. There are other Vermont soldiers elsewhere in Iraq, in Saudi Arabia, and in Afghanistan.