WASHINGTON -- The impact on Minnesota National Guard troops and their families is one of Sen. Norm Coleman's biggest concerns, now that President Bush has proposed a new strategy for the war in Iraq.
Coleman said Thursday he supports some of Bush's ideas from the speech, including the proposal to send more troops to Anbar province. He doesn't support others, like sending more troops to Baghdad, where they will be "caught in the crosshairs of sectarian violence."
But Coleman is hopping mad about the announcement that Minnesota Guard troops, due to come home in March, may be in Iraq until next summer.
About 2,600 Minnesota troops serving with the 34th Infantry Division arrived in Iraq in March and April 2006 for what was to be a one-year deployment. The Guard announced shortly after Bush's Wednesday evening speech that the deployment would be extended. No information was provided about the length of the extension or whether the troops' role would change.
Coleman was in Iraq in December and visited with a number of Minnesotans. "They were very excited about coming home," he said. The soldiers from Minnesota have "served with distinction, and they have served with great sacrifice," he added.
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Many family members learned the news a couple hours after Bush's Wednesday evening speech, while they were watching television newscasts. Coleman called that "totally unacceptable," in a conference call with Minnesota reporters Thursday afternoon. There should have been a better, more official way to get the word out to them, Coleman said.
"The families of our Guard members deserve better," he said. "I'm very unhappy with the way this was handled. ... There's got to be a better process to tell folks what's expected of them."
Coleman wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates about the impact the extension will have on the Guard troops and their families and protesting the handling of the situation.
Coleman explained his divided opinion about Bush's plan.
In Anbar province, Marines told him in December that they could accomplish more if they had more troops, Coleman said, and he would favor a stronger U.S. force in that region.
However, "I don't want to see our soldiers inserted more into sectarian violence" in Baghdad, he said.
Coleman said he believes the U.S. should set some "benchmarks" that must be met before more troops are sent into Baghdad. Those would include more effort at controlling Shiite militias and the inclusion of many more Sunnis in the Iraqi army and police forces.
Coleman said his opposition will not extend to supporting rumored Democratic efforts to cut off funding for deployed troops.
