COURTESY OF GOV. LINDA LINGLE
Gov. Linda Lingle talked to a soldier from Maui during a lunch break yesterday in Iraq.
U.S. mission in Iraq
gains Lingle’s supportHawaii's governor says
she saw firsthand the
value of the terror war
Two days in Iraq convinced Gov. Linda Lingle that the United States is making progress and on the right track.
In a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan, Lingle said her trip with five other state governors shows that fighting "terrorists in Iraq means it is clear we are keeping from having to fight terrorists in America."
During her time on the Defense Department-sponsored trip, Lingle said she talked to soldiers from Hawaii serving in Baghdad and promised that she would call their relatives when she returns to Hawaii this weekend.
The trip for Lingle and governors from Louisiana, Oregon, New York, Idaho and Minnesota was not without combat zone perils. Although the governors spent the nights in Jordan and flew into Baghdad during the days, the takeoffs and landings were intense, she said.
On one night flight out of Baghdad, Lingle said, the plane appeared to draw tracer fire.
"I think it is a common occurrence," Lingle said. "I was in the cockpit when we were flying out at night; they go out with no lights and use night-vision goggles.
"We had just taken off from Baghdad, and the guy in the navigator's seat says, 'Oh ... tracer fire off the left wing.'
"I just sat there being very quiet. They tried to identify the direction and what kind it was."
Asked about the performance of her communications office back home during her absence, where her communications officer, Russell Pang, lied to the press about her location and said she was working in her office while actually flying to Iraq, Lingle said she regretted the statement.
"I wish it could have been done a different way, but we were all so focused on the security of it. ... I didn't want the trip to be canceled, and I wish it could have been done another way," Lingle said.
The trip was the first by American governors since the American occupation in April and comes as a new phase is starting. Under new Defense Department plans, Lingle said, the ratio of active military to National Guard troops is changing, with more reservists being put into the combat zone.
"This is going to be the biggest rotation since the Second World War," Lingle said.
The ratio had been 78 percent active military to 22 percent Guard, but Lingle said the ratio will change to 63 percent military and 37 percent Guard.
"I think it shows you the reliance the military has on the Guard and the Reserve units," Lingle said.
Lingle said Hawaii soldiers would add to the effort.
"The units are well suited for the effort because not only are they trained militarily, they bring private-sector ideas, what they call 'out of the box' thinking to the problems here.
"You always have concern about the people, and families of those coming over and also their employers, those people who are losing their employees for a year. There will be a big impact on the state, but I am confident they are well trained," Lingle said.
Lingle, who has strongly supported President Bush's war in Iraq, said she did not know why she was selected to go on the trip. There were two Democrats and four Republicans on the mission.
"I know they wanted governors from different parts of the country, and they wanted women governors because women are going to be an important part of rebuilding Iraq," Lingle said, pointing out that two of the nation's five female governors were on the trip.
"There is a feeling that the more women that are involved, the less likely there will be violence breaking out," Lingle said.
The governor also said she felt the trip was being used to bolster support for the Iraq occupation.
"Every group that has been brought in, and there have been hundreds of groups ... they hope the people will go home and be able to talk with more knowledge about America's involvement here," Lingle said.
While in Iraq, Lingle met with Hawaii soldiers and said it was one of the most touching parts of the trip.
She recounted meeting Ligaya Vasquez, a 20-year-old McKinley High School graduate who had grown up in Mayor Wright Housing and was hoping to use her Army service to pay for college.
"She is such a strong Hawaii kid, so full of life, and believes in this mission so much," Lingle said.
Lingle added that she also talked with Army Maj. Elizabeth Rogers, who attended Sacred Hearts Academy and whose parents live in Waimea on the Big Island with her 3-year-old son. Her husband is also in the military and deployed out of state, Lingle said.
"They talk about how they are helping win the war against terrorism and how they are helping the Iraqi people," Lingle said of the soldiers she met.
The governor is scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., to meet with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and then have a briefing with President Bush before returning to Honolulu this weekend.
