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The Roseburg News-Review---August 8, 2007
Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians, U.S. Sen. Republican Gordon Smith unveiled his solution for the crisis in Iraq to about 200 Douglas County business and community leaders.
U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith unveiled his solution for ending the crisis in Iraq, during a luncheon talk Tuesday in Roseburg.
Speaking at a lunch sponsored by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians, the Pendleton Republican said the United States needs to acknowledge the deep-seated animosity between Iraq’s Shia and Sunni tribes and work on a plan that would allow them to live peacefully within the same country.
The split between the two occurred 1,400 years ago.
The Sunnis, the tribe that Saddam Hussein belonged to, have always been the rulers, while the majority Shia have always been the servants, Smith said.
Meanwhile, the Kurds want to be left alone.
"We need to recognize the real facts on the ground. What has happened is that they’re using their freedom to ethnically and religiously divide that country in three ways," Smith said, speaking before a group of about 200 government, business and other community leaders.
"Rather than trying to force something that was first imposed upon the Iraqis by the Europeans in the Treaty of Versailles, let us help them live apart because they can’t live together."
Smith, who criticized the Bush Administration’s policy in Iraq on the Senate floor as the 109th Congress came to a close last year, said he recently presented President George W. Bush with his plan during a "long conversation."
"If we have to get moving vans, build housing here and there, I assure you that is much, much cheaper than military action," Smith said.
In Anbar Province, a Sunni stronghold where more than 1,100 American troops have been killed, the U.S. has taken steps to woo local leaders by providing financial support. As a result, some sheiks have pushed out insurgents, which has reduced attacks.
"It’s really working there. The Sunni tribal sheiks have thrown out al Qaeda.
They want governing authority. We should give it to them," Smith said. "The Shias want to kill them, they want to get even. We can’t allow that, but we should allow Shias to go back where they are safe."
The United States can’t retreat from taking action against those who export terrorism, Smith said.
However, the fight the country has been "engaged in Iraq is not ours to win," he said.
"When the president stood on the aircraft carrier (and said) ‘Mission accomplished,’ he was right. He was right as to all we could win.
The rest is for them to win and we need to facilitate that happening instead of forcing our vision on them," Smith said.
"They will be democratic if they’re together in their community, not if we’re jamming them together. There, they want to kill each other."