Congressman Anthony Weiner visited the troops last week. Image: Travis Bonilla/Brooklyn View
By Edmund DeMarche
Somewhere in “The Art of War” it must read: “To divide an army comprised of New Yorkers, distribute Yankee and Met hats to forces on the ground.”
Congressman Anthony Weiner did just that.
Weiner, who has visited Baghdad before, was flanked by fellow congressman Steven Israel and Governor David Paterson on a trip last weekend to Iraq. The three distributed both Yankee and Mets baseball caps for troops from New York. “We got such a rise out of the guys,” said Weiner. “They got into debates about which team was better.”
Weiner, a critic of President Bush’s foreign policy, said he saw improvement in the war-torn country, but admitted that the base of his ratings scale was low.
“This period in time is as good and we are as optimistic as we’ve been in some time,” said Weiner in a conference call while he was stationed in Kuwait. “Clearly troops are safer—but far from safe.”
Weiner gave an example of the volatile situation. He said he could hear bombs detonating “within earshot” during a meeting earlier in his visit.
“You can tell the soldiers who were from New York,” said Weiner. “Troops from Kentucky and Oklahoma were quite, and troops from New York brought their confidence with them. They were opinionated and loud.” He said he was optimistic about President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to redeploy troops, and hoped the upcoming elections on Jan. 31 marked the continuation of the Iraqi government working for its people as well as the Iraqi police picking up where the American troops left off.
“Our troops have done an amazing job here,” said Weiner, also taking the opportunity to criticize President Bush’s “perhaps deceitful” war.
Reports indicate that officials have been planning the trip for months. Weiner and Israel were the two main organizers. The trip was so hushed up, the press was unaware Paterson had left, until he was on the ground in Iraq.
