Friday, Nov. 7, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., listed 30 countries that he claims have troops on the ground in Iraq, with the point that there is a "global effort" toward reconstructing that country.
According to the Periscope USNI Military Database, the following countries that were among those listed by Gibbons have "zero" troops on the ground in Iraq: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the Ukraine.
Not only is there not a global effort in Iraq, but Gibbons' claim that our soldiers are fighting as "tribute to the Americans lost on 9-11" is hogwash. We are being inundated with feel-good form letters that Army commanding officers are having our troops sign and send home. Defense experts and noncommissioned officers are warning of a historically high rate of exodus from our armed forces, particualarly by reservists.
Greg Thielmann, a former State Department intelligence analyst, said recently on "60 Minutes II" that Powell's presentation to the United Nations about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction misrepresented the facts and was designed to deceive.
As Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., stated, "I think we are being given a kind of snow job by the (Republican) administration."
I think we are being given a snow job right here in Nevada, too!
LARRY M. JEPPESEN
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