Coburn declines to elaborate on Iraq War statement
BY JIM MYERS and RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writers
Thursday, February 21, 2008
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn's comment
that going to war in Iraq was "probably a mistake" represents a significant departure from where the Oklahoma Republican started out on the
5-year-old conflict.
Coburn's comment came at the
beginning of remarks at a weekend
town hall meeting in Muskogee.
"I will tell you personally that I
think it was probably a mistake going to Iraq," said the freshman senator, who made it clear he did not believe the U.S. could withdraw but
had to stay.
What was unclear was when exactly Coburn changed his position
on the controversial war, what led to
that change and why he chose to reveal it at a town hall meeting back in
the state as opposed to in front of a
wider audience.
Coburn's comment came less
than a week after he returned from
his second trip to Iraq since entering
the Senate.
He declined to comment Wednesday.
Coburn, who previously served
six years in the U.S. House, ran for
the Senate in 2004.
During both the primary
and the general election campaigns that year, he repeatedly expressed support for President Bush's decision to take
the country to war in Iraq.
Coburn at one point in the
campaign reportedly said the
war in Iraq was "absolutely
not" a mistake.
Vice President Dick Cheney, a vocal defender of the
war, came to Tulsa to cam
paign and raise money for
Coburn.
During that visit, Cheney
criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry
for flip-flopping on the war by
voting in the Senate to go to
war but voting against adequate funding for the troops.
Coburn at times has criticized the way the war was handled and funded.
Still, his comments at the
town hall meeting may be the
first time he has ever suggested the war was a mistake.
According to official and unofficial reports, Oklahoma has
lost 60 military personnel to
the war in Iraq, while nationally the death toll as of Wednesday stands at 3,965.
Coburn's latest comments
on the war clearly surprised
his fellow Oklahoma Republican senator, Jim Inhofe.
"No, no, he couldn't have
said that," Inhofe said
Wednesday when asked to
comment.
A veteran member of the
Senate Armed Services Committee who has made a number of trips to Iraq since the
U.S.-led invasion, Inhofe is a
staunch defender of the war.
"I cannot believe he said
that," Inhofe said, adding a
few minutes later that he disagreed with Coburn.
Even though he brought up
the issue of war at his recent
town hall, Coburn added: "It
doesn't do any good to dwell
on it because we're there."
He said the risk of withdrawal is greater than the risk
of remaining, and he praised
the military personnel.
"I personally think we have
to finish this," Coburn said.
"People who are running for
president saying 'Bring our
people out' are wrong."
In 2005, Coburn reportedly
predicted Iraq was about two
years away from becoming a
working democracy and went
on to say Syria would follow.
Last weekend, Coburn said
"we are on a glide path in the
Muslim world" to creating a
sustainable democracy and
warned that withdrawing
would "expose 570,000 people
to genocide."
"How we got there is (the)
past," he said.
Jim Myers (202) 484-1424
jim.myers@tulsaworld.com
Randy Krehbiel 581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
MUM
Tom Coburn: No
comment on
earlier “probably a
mistake” remark.
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