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Castor Makes Airwaves During Petraeus Appearance

Posted Sep 10, 2007 by Billy House, Tribune Washington Bureau

Updated Sep 10, 2007 at 06:13 PM

Tampa’s freshman Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor has just grabbed more national TV face-time.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Castor got to quiz the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and used it as an opportunity to outline her view of the war and lambaste the White House.

“Gentlemen, while the American people have great confidence in the troops, in our brave men and women in uniform, they have totally lost confidence at the top of our national government,” said Castor. “There’s a complete lack of credibility coming from the White House.”

She said the White House “at first justified the war by claiming that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. None were found.”

“Then the war was about establishing a model democracy in the Arab world. Some model.

“After that is was necessary to fight on to defeat al Qaeda which sprouted a local branch in Iraq. The troop surge was supposed to give Iraqi leaders security ad time to bring about national reconciliation—it didn’t happen.

“Now the president’s latest spin is that withdrawal can result in another Vietnam,” Castor went on. “I think the American people want to know, as we are in the fifth year of this war—how much longer? How many billions of dollars more while we are growing a global strategic risk?”

Petraeus and Crocker both remained cool through the questioning.

At one point, the general responded to Castor that he shares her frustration at some of the set-backs, but reiterated his earlier statement: “Iraqis are taking over considerable responsibility. There is progress.”