Palm Beach Post - Martinez: Surge in Iraq is Working

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Palm Beach Post - Martinez: Surge in Iraq is Working

Written by: RON HAYES | Publication: Palm Beach Post

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., offered a cautiously upbeat assessment of U.S. progress in Iraq at Monday's luncheon meeting of The Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.

"The surge has worked beyond the expectations of most observers," Martinez told the crowd of about 460 at the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion. "I believe we have al-Queda on the run."

Martinez is not the first congressman to come under fire for supporting the war, but he's one of the few who's literally been fired on. On Aug. 30, he and fellow senators James Inhofe, R-Okla; Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; and Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., were taking off from Baghdad when their C-130 cargo plane was forced to take evasive maneuvers to avoid three rocket-propelled granades.

"It sounds dramatic, with great flashes of light in the dark outside," Martinez said. "I said a lot of prayers I hadn't said in a while, but it's a reminder of the great danger we're facing every day."

Martinez said he had been briefed by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker in Baghdad, weeks befrore their testimony to Congress.

"Gen. Petraeus was candid and in some ways very encouraging," a view his own observations confirmed, Martinez said.

"I saw very significant military progress," he went on. "The current strategy is doing what it was intended to do: Provide a window of support for political stability to come to Iraq."

The U.S. has made measurable progress in shutting off the major routes from which insurgent weapons are brought to Baghdad from the south, Martinez asserted, and troops told him they were seeing a level of support at the local level that would have been unthinknable only weeks ago.

What's needed now, he said, is to do away with de-Baathification laws so Iraq's Sunni factions can feel they have a stake in their future, and to schedule local and regional elections.

Martinez said he finds cause for optimism in what he called "bottoms up" progress, as more and more local residents, tired of the violence, are coming to the military with offers to cooperate.

Touching briefly on other issues, Martinez said he would vote to override President Bush's threatened veto of the Water Restoration Development Act, which would bring $2 billion to help clean up the Everglades and Indian River lagoon.

Speaking on the same day Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled a new health plan, Martinez said he had not yet seen the details. However, he said he favors a plan the would provide tax credits to let uninsured Americans buy their own insurance from the private sector.

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