Small Business News
March 2004 | Online Edition
Governor Lingle Makes
Unprecedented Trip to Baghdad
At the request of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Governor Linda Lingle joined five other governors from around the nation on an unprecedented, bipartisan mission to Iraq to visit U.S. troops and officials as well as meet with the Iraq Governing Council. The other governors on the trip were George Pataki (R-New York), Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho), Ted Kulongoski (D-Oregon), Tim Pawlenty (R-Minnesota) and Kathleen Blanco (D-Louisiana).
The delegation arrived in Baghdad February 9 and met with Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, the specially appointed presidential envoy to Iraq, to discuss reconstruction efforts. The governors also toured parts of the city to assess devastation caused by Saddam Hussein, and met with the Iraq Governing Council to discuss the country’s new political structure and the council‚s progress in moving post-war Iraq toward democracy.
“We discussed the challenges the country faces going forward on the political, social and economic fronts,” Governor Lingle said during a telephone call to radio station KSSK’s Perry & Price show. “his is an opportunity to rebuild the country, and they are very committed to not going back to the kind of regime that previously existed.”
The Governor made the call while ”breaking bread” with Hawai‘i troops stationed in Iraq. She described their morale as “very high,” and said she was having a great time, sharing a meal and taking pictures with soldiers in the Bob Hope Mess Tent. “Our soldiers are well trained and committed to the efforts here,” she reported.
This was the first visit by statewide elected officials to Iraq since the start of the Iraq War. As commanders in chief of National Guard divisions in their states, the governors made an unprecedented and unified show of support and appreciation for their troops serving in Iraq.
The governors began their trip with a Pentagon briefing conducted by Department of Defense officials, including Lt. General Steve Blum, chief of the U.S. National Guard Bureau. The delegation also visited the Pentagon memorial established for the victims of the September 11th terrorists attack.
RETURN TO MARCH 2004 SB NEWS PAGE
|
