| Clyburn says there must be oversight in Iraq plan
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Aiken Standard
MYRTLE BEACH — House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn says there must be congressional oversight for President Bush's new plan for Iraq and American troops should be redeployed from the areas of heaviest fighting.
President Bush on Wednesday will outline a new strategy for the conflict and congressional leaders expect he will announce the deployment of 20,000 more troops.
American troops should "go out and protect the borders — go out and be on the ready, but you can't set up another 20,000 targets," said Clyburn, D-S.C.
"What we have to do is redeploy, get out of the 'Red Zone' and turn the 'Red Zone' over to the Iraqis and pump in the economic incentives so they can have jobs and a fair distribution of the oil revenue," Clyburn said. "All of that has got to be on the table."
Clyburn made the comments Monday after giving a tribute to civil rights attorney and U.S. District Judge Matthew Perry, who was enshrined in the South Carolina Hall of Fame.
Clyburn, the first black congressman from South Carolina since Reconstruction, assumed the No. 3 job in the House last week as the Democrats took control of the chamber.
It's the highest position held in the House by a black legislator. Former Rep. William Gray of Pennsylvania, a black Democrat, also served as majority whip in the early 1990s.
Clyburn said he had a good first week as Whip but everything that Congress is trying to do is overshadowed by Iraq, which he called "the 800 pound gorilla in the middle of all of this."
Clyburn said while there has been talk about both parties working together, "the president seems to have gotten everybody a little off stride with his decision to totally ignore the ... report of the Iraq study committee."
Whatever Bush announces, the Congress must have an oversight role, he said.
"Just because you call it a (troop) surge doesn't mean it's going to be a surge. It could very well be an escalation and an escalation won't work," he said.
"No matter what happens — escalation, surge, any kind of ratcheting it up — there must be strings attached to this. He cannot operate in a vacuum," Clyburn said. "There has got to be oversight and there have got to be strings attached and anything else, I'm against."
Clyburn added that the nation finds itself in the situation in Iraq because there was little oversight originally from lawmakers.
"We just gave up our responsibility and we have got to get that back," he said.
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