AP/ PHOTO COURTESY OF ED CASE Rep. Ed Case stood on an armored vehicle with Sgt. Raymond Lee of Honolulu on Monday in Ramadi, Iraq.

Case predicts
a long war

The lawmaker meets with troops
serving at a "crucial" time in Iraq

Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Brigade Combat Team will wrap up its second half of combat deployment during an "absolute crucial time" for Iraq since the January national elections, says U.S. Rep. Ed Case.

Case, returning from his fourth trip to the Middle East, referred to increased insurgency action aimed at disrupting the Oct. 15 referendum on the country's new constitution, the trial of Saddam Hussein four days later and the national elections in December.

Case returned to Washington, D.C., yesterday after spending six days in Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq as a member of a six-member bipartisan congressional delegation and meeting with the 2,200 citizen-soldiers of the 29th Brigade.

"I came away with the belief we must push through this time in Iraq," Case said in a conference call with the news media on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. "There is too much of a power void still in Iraq. To contemplate the consequences of a simple withdrawal by our forces and others, leaving Iraq where it is today, would be chaotic."

Case predicts the United States needs to be in Iraq for several more years, and the force of nearly 140,000 can't be cut to just to 10,000 to 20,000 next year. "It's just not going to work. That's unrealistic. There is no way we can do that."

He added: "It is clear that (the) current insurgency is made up not only of Saddam loyalists and religious extremists within Iraq, but by foreign suicide bombers and freedom fighters coordinated in many instances by al-Qaida members, and that their collective goal is to disrupt the rehabilitation of Iraq and specifically the political progress, for both internal and external purposes."

Case met with Hawaii's citizen-solders at Camp Liberty near Baghdad, as well as Camp Caldwell, northeast of Baghdad; Al Ramadi and Logistical Support Area Anaconda near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Although he said the morale of Hawaii's citizen-soldiers is "good," Case said the next six months will be the hardest as "they head down the home stretch" to be back in the islands by January.

"As far as I know, they are on schedule to come home in January," Case said.

One of the reasons Case said he has kept in contact with soldiers of the 29th Brigade and visited them at Fort Polk, La., in January before they deployed to Iraq was because of complaints he received that their training was inadequate and they lacked equipment such as body armor.

He was told by Brig. Gen. Joe Chaves, brigade commander, that the Hawaii troops were "well-trained and well-respected."

"Their training was adequate," Case said, "and they have the vehicle and body armor and equipment they need. They wanted to talk about home issues, which I did -- especially about our Little League world champs -- and they welcomed the local food I brought."