(Host) Republican U.S. House candidate Martha Rainville says she opposes efforts to set a specific timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Speaking Tuesday night on VPR’s Switchboard program, Rainville said that a publicly identified date to remove troops is a bad idea:
(Rainville) “I believe that published timetables, while letting our citizens have something to plan on when our troops would be home and certainly sending a message to the Iraqi government, also sends a clear message to those who work to disrupt not only the Iraqi governments but also the region and this country. And they know that if they take a break and restock and rebuild by X date, the United States will be out of there and they can come back and work harder to destabilize the government.”
(Host) While she opposes a public timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Rainville says she thinks the Bush administration has worked out a clear policy with the government of Iraq:
(Rainville) “The Iraqi government has stated that they want the United States to withdraw. Iraqis love their country, they want to be able to assume control of it. They don’t want another country there understandably. Hopefully we have timetables established with them and objectives established for the government.”
(Host) Rainville faces Bennington senator Mark Shepard in the GOP Congressional primary on September 12.