U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon speaks out on Iraq war

If you don't know who Curt Weldon is, he's the congressman that published a book full of allegedly ignored intelligence regarding Iran's role in the War on Terror called, "Countdown to Terror." Some have dismissed this book as a bunch of hooey and others have regarded it as the most important book published with regards to our proxy war with Iran. According to Weldon via his anonymous source that provides the backbone of the book, it was Iran that supported the Shiite backlash led by Muqtadr Al Sadr in Iraq and to this day Iran is still playing a part in the continued insurgency.

Here's what Weldon is saying today about our pal, Don Rumsfeld:

“We want Rumsfeld to be candid with the American people‚” said Weldon‚ who is Republican and the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District. “What he’s done in many cases is overstated the capability of the Iraqi military and that has caused the American people to think‚ ‘Well then we ought to be bringing the troops home.’”

Given a copy of Weldon’s remarks‚ a spokesman for the Department of Defense said in a statement that officials and military commanders “have provided the media and public realistic assessments of the ongoing operations for more than two years.”

“We have continually stated that a change of force level will be tied to conditions‚ one of which is the ability of the Iraqi security forces to perform their mission‚” Defense Department spokesman Todd Vician said.

Weldon agreed that it would be premature to bring troops home.

“The Iraqi military is not adequately equipped to take over their own security and we’ve got to work more aggressively to help them be in a position to do that‚” he said.

Weldon’s comments come amid deepening public concern over the growing costs of war. An Associated Press poll conducted Aug. 22 to 24‚ found that 58 percent of the country disapproves of the Bush Administration’s handling of the war in Iraq. The poll found 37 percent approve of it with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

With Congress under growing pressure to show progress‚ Weldon compared the current situation to Vietnam – though not in the sense war opponents have portrayed it.

“An artificial date to bring the troops home is wrong because then what you’re doing is the same thing we did in Vietnam‚ you’re letting politicians back home for political reasons make decisions that are going to endanger the lives of our sons and daughters‚” he said.

Weldon accused intelligence agencies of being slow to heed his warnings about the growing influence of Iran in the Iraqi insurgency.

After more than a year of what he described as “a major battle with the CIA” over documents he believed show the rising role Iran is playing‚ Weldon said the situation had been reversed.

“Now all of a sudden we’re coming out with information that everyone’s understanding is that in fact Iran is a major reason why we’re having the instability in Iraq.”

In an Aug. 9 press conference‚ Rumsfeld said that “weapons‚ clearly‚ unambiguously from Iran have been found in Iraq.” In response to a follow-up question‚ Rumsfeld said that “it’s notably unhelpful for the Iranians to be allowing weapons of those types to cross the border.”


In May‚ Weldon traveled to Iraq as part of a bipartisan delegation that met with the president and the chairman of the constitution drafting committee.


At that time‚ top Iraqi leaders attributed the insurgency’s potency to Iranian influence‚ Weldon said.

Now that this country’s military leadership has acknowledged Iran’s role it’s almost too late‚ Weldon said.


“The seeds have already been laid‚ the social networks in Iraq have already been established‚ the mullahs who are sympathetic to the Iranian movement have been fed money by them‚” he said.


Weldon has argued that Iran is much closer to developing a nuclear weapon than previously recognized in his recent book “Countdown to Terror.” The book was published by Regnery‚ which bills itself as “the nation’s leading conservative publisher.”

Critics have dismissed Weldon’s charges as overly dependent on a source intelligence agencies had previously deemed untruthful.