Durbin speaks out on troops for Iraq

By Ed Tibbetts
Quad-City Times

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Wednesday that he would only support an increase in American troops to Iraq if it was part of a larger plan to get them home.

Durbin’s comments come as speculation swirls about whether President Bush will seek an increase in troops to Iraq.

The president declined to speculate about the possibility at a news conference Wednesday, but said he would seek a greater commitment from U.S. allies in the war effort.

Durbin, who was touring the River Bend Foodbank in Moline, said the call for a greater sacrafice from allies is overdue. And he echoed comments incoming Senate

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, made over the weekend that a troop increase must be temporary and consistent with a plan to get Americans out of Iraq.

“I would only support a surge in troops if it is part of a carefully planned timetable to bring American troops home,” Durbin said.

He noted the Iraq Support Group report projected that combat troops could be out of the country by the first part of 2008, meaning an average of 10,000 per month beginning in January.

“If we need initially some troops in Baghdad, for example, to quiet the situation, make it more peaceful so that our soldiers start coming home, then I would accept it,” he said.

The senator’s tour of the food bank follows his introduction of a bill last session that would expand federal funding for such operations.

The bill passed the Senate but not the House, he said, and he plans to reintroduce it next session.

The bill would set as a goal the elimination of hunger in the U.S. and establish a pair of grant programs, both of which would be funded at $50 million per year over five years.

Durbin praised the  Student Hunger Drive of the Quad-Cities and encouraged support of food banks at all times of the year.

“I would hope that all of us would keep that Christmas spirit all year round when it comes to helping those who are hungry in America,” Durbin said.

Tom Laughlin, executive director of the food bank, said that 38 percent of its recipients are children.

The food bank serves a 22-county area on both sides of the river.

He, too, encouraged year-round giving. “Hunger knows no season,” he said.

Durbin was making stops in Moline, Galesburg and Bloomington on Wednesday.

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