Vets, families welcome Iraq troop withdrawal

Press Democrat

His son, 24-year-old Cpl. Sam Jackson of the 101st Airborne Division, was home from Iraq for good.

“There is this wave of relief that comes over you the minute you know your kid's feet are back on the ground,” said Jackson, recalling the tears of joy hundreds of others soldiers' family members shed that day.

With President Barack Obama's declaration Friday that America has “begun the work of ending this war” by pulling combat troops in 18 months, the elder Jackson hopes tens of thousands of parents will share what he has felt since his son came home.

“If there are more people experiencing that, all power to President Obama,” said Jackson, a trial lawyer. “I welcome it. I think its great. I would like that they would all come home.”

Under Obama's drawdown plan, most of the 142,000 American troops would be out of Iraq by the summer of 2010, leaving 35,000 to 50,000 troops for limited missions. The 18-month withdrawal is slightly longer than he had promised on the campaign trail.

Reaction among some North Coast military families has been mainly positive, with many praising the administration's measured approach.

Joe Piasta, a Santa Rosa trial lawyer who retired in 2007 as an Army colonel after 33 years of active and reserve duty, praised Obama's “wisdom” and his willingness to go against the “tide of some of the more liberal and left-leaning people in his party.”

Piasta is a former Judge Advocate General attorney whose son, Edward, is also a JAG lawyer with the 3rd Infantry Division. Edward served in Iraq during the troop buildup of 2007 and 2008.

His daughter, Theresa, currently is in Iraq with the 41st Fires Brigade of Fort Hood, Texas, serving in Al Kut, Wasit Province, on the Iranian border.

Piasta said the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 were defining moments for him and his son and daughter. He said that although mistakes have been made in the war, former President Bush's troop buildup in 2007 “created the conditions by which we can have a good chance of safely withdrawing our troops” while maintaining all the gains made for the Iraqi people.

Piasta said Obama's meeting with Sen. John McCain was an acknowledgment of those who championed the surge. “I think the president has called it right here," said Piasta.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, blasted Obama's centrist approach to the troop drawdown. In a statement released Friday, Woolsey called the plan to leave up to 50,000 troops in Iraq “unacceptable.”

“Call such a troop level what you will, but such a large number can only be viewed by the Iraqi public as an enduring occupation force,” Woolsey said. “The faster that we can promote unification and reconciliation, the sooner we can bring all of our troops home.”

Rep. Mike Thompson, who during the last Congress introduced legislation with then Sen. Obama to bring troops home, said he was “proud to see the president is implementing policies that will make that a reality.”

“This cannot happen fast enough,” he said. “As we bring our troops home, we must make every effort to ensure that the Iraqi security forces take full responsibility for their country's security as soon as possible.”

Brian Sobel, a local political analyst whose son Ryan was injured during a bomb explosion on a bridge in eastern Afghanistan in 2007, said he was concerned that Iraqi insurgents are laying low, waiting for the United States to begin withdrawing troops.

“If you were in their shoes, why would you go beat your head against the wall for a year when your real horizon is 10, 15 or 25 years?”

Gary Medvigy, a Sonoma County Superior Court Judge who is also deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, said that after six years of war in Iraq, billions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, much is at stake.

“The timeline has to be gauged by progress on the ground and that has to be the only measure,” he said, speaking by cell phone Friday during an airline flight layover in Chicago. “Otherwise we jeopardize the stability there. We can't leave until their borders are safe.”

Sam Jackson, the former corporal with the 101st Airborne, said he was excited by the prospect that many military families will experience what he felt on the tarmac last November.

“It really is like an overwhelming experience to be away for so long and have the people you care about more than anything in the world waiting there for you,” he said. Jackson, who served two tours in Iraq, called the situation in Iraq complex.

“I'm happy to see American soldiers out of harm's way,” he said. He added: “I don't think keeping 50,000 troops in Iraq is going to do much of anything.”