Mar 24 2008
McHenry Visits Iraq
This marked the Cherryville Republican’s first trip to Iraq, something McHenry had been hoping to do for a while.
“It’s important to see this one-on-one rather than rely on others’ reporting,” McHenry said. “I wanted to ask questions myself.”
McHenry said he’d had a full day traveling around Baghdad, talking with soldiers and meeting with both U.S. and Iraqi officials.
McHenry spent almost two hours speaking with Gen. David Petraeus about the surge strategy.
“He was very candid. He didn’t sugarcoat anything, that’s not his style.” McHenry said. “My conclusion is it appears to be working. Attacks are down substantially over the last year.”
Another thing that surprised McHenry was the attitude of the Iraqi people, he said.
“Until I was here on the ground it did not feel as if the Iraqis wanted to pull themselves up. I had doubts about that,” McHenry said. “But meeting with local officials, they really want to take their country back.”
“Two years ago they wouldn’t have been able to do that at all,” McHenry said. “The market was closed.”
It’s nice to hear good news out of Iraq. I suspected there have been improvement over there for the simple reason that the media barely mentions it anymore. When the news was grim and there was day to day chaos you couldn’t turn on the television without hearing about it. Now, you have to actually take the time to look for news on Iraq. When the bad news dries up, the media disappears.
