LoBiondo and the Middle East

According to a Press article on April 19, Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd district, reports that his latest trip to Afghanistan and Iraq was a "mixed bag." He says that things are getting better although there are still some negatives and now admits that President Bush's adminstration has made some errors. Such as disbanding the Iraqi army and not providing for an alternate way for them to feed their families. That decision was made three years ago by Paul Bremer, the then Coalition Provisional Authority chief, and obviously supported by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush. Suddenly, Mr LoBiondo is questioning that decision. Many of his constituents would like to know why he will "not only ask the the right questions but make the right challenges to these policies." Where was his curiosity and gumption to ask Mr Bush why he was diverting $700 million from the chase for bin Laden in Afghanistan and disengaging our troops in the mountains of Tora Bora so that we could prepare for a war of choice against Saddam Hussein? Mr LoBiondo has voted for the war in Iraq beginning with the first Bush emergency appropriation request of $87 billion and continuing to the most recent one of $90 billion. To date, we have spent approximately $275 billion and President Bush himself sees our occupation extending into the next presidency. A reasonable person would have questioned why make war aqainst Iraq when it presented no imminent threat, why we failed to form a true coalition that included some Arab nations, why the number of troops was only 150,000 when 500,000 were deployed during Gulf War I, why Halliburton and other favored companies were granted no-bid contracts, and why Mr LoBiondo voted against investigating possible fraud by those same companies. It is ironic that when the previous president, a Democrat, wanted to bomb the Serbs who were carrying out a policy of "ethnic cleansing" against Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo, Mr LoBiondo voted against our involvement. Mr LoBiondo's recent statements would be more laudable if one did not know that he is up for reelection this year and that Mr Bush's approval rating is 36%, Congress' approval is 23%, and that the public no longer sees the Republican party as the party to keep Americans safe. Why else the change of heart in distancing himself from a president he has supported so steadfastly since 2001?

NICK REINA

Buena Vista Townshp