Collins: U.S. troops need relief aid

BANGOR – While U.S. troops in Iraq remain optimistic despite recent sniper attacks and prolonged deployment, it would help if more troops from other countries were brought in to relieve the American troops, Sen. Susan Collins said Monday.

Collins also said she had reservations about getting the military involved in war-torn Liberia at this time, which could overextend U.S. capabilities.

Starvation and illness plague much of the West African country’s population, while rebels attempting to unseat President Charles Taylor continue fighting with government forces despite a June 17 cease-fire agreement. Collins said she hopes peacekeeping efforts will be shared internationally while the United States focuses on Iraq.

“Liberia clearly needs help, but I hope perhaps other nations can send in peacekeeping forces,” she said, during an editorial board meeting at the Bangor Daily News. “The rest of the world can help out in Liberia.”

After her three-day visit to Iraq with members of the Armed Services Committee, Collins said she also hopes shared military aid soon will relieve weary U.S. troops.

“Morale is still high, but they’re getting tired,” Collins said.

She recalled visiting in Iraq with Sgt. Michael Levesque of Winslow, who said he was proud of his role in the liberation of Iraqi citizens.

“He told me that he felt so good about the mission because he had helped give the Iraqi people their freedom,” Collins said.

But many troops are eager to return home, she said.

“They’re stretched thin, they’re worn out, and they need to be rotated home.”

The 3rd Infantry Division, among other units, has been stationed in Iraq since last fall and was involved in combat at the height of the war, she said.

While U.S. military presence in the country may continue for many months, it is the capture or death of Saddam Hussein that will bring Iraq closer to peace, Collins said.

“The single biggest factor that is impeding recovery is that Saddam Hussein is still alive,” she said. “They fear that Americans are going to go home prematurely and that Saddam is going to come back. Thirty years of breathtaking brutality by Saddam has taken its toll.”

Fear of Saddam’s return has hampered progress especially in southern and central areas, while in the north, closer to semiautonomous Kurdish territory, democratic processes are beginning to take hold, Collins said.

“The progress throughout Iraq in moving toward a democratic society, in restoring services, and in bringing stability and peace, is very uneven,” she said. “In Baghdad and central Iraq, there was a pervasive feeling of danger, hostility, and an unsettled feeling.”

The hunt for Saddam continues along with the search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Inspectors now are focusing on human intelligence sources, rather than locating possible weapons sites, and may discover less tangible evidence, Collins said.

“I believe what we will find is evidence of the programs in place, and that we will find some precursor chemicals,” she said. “Whether we will find weapons, per se, loaded up on delivery systems, I don’t know.”

Collins said she is confident that Iraq, with the help of extensive U.S. humanitarian efforts, has begun to rebuild.

“There is a rising Iraqi nationalism that I think is a powerful and positive development,” she said.