MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – She’s a former two-star general, now a Republican candidate for Congress.
And Martha Rainville is calling for United States troops to pull out of Iraq “as soon as possible,” using the word “debacle” when talking about the war in a radio debate this week.
Rainville, 48, the former head of the Vermont National Guard, calls for the troop withdrawal in a new TV commercial that’s her first directly focusing on the war.
“It’s time for Iraq’s government to take full control. Our troops must come home with honor as soon as possible,” she says in the ad, holding a folded Vermont National Guard battle flag as organ music plays solemnly. “I’ll bring my experience to Congress, ask the tough questions and demand answers before we send troops into battle, not after.”
Her opponent’s camp calls the ad is an “election-eve conversion,” but Rainville said she talks about Iraq in every meeting she has.
“Coming down to this point in the campaign, I felt it was very important to make a strong statement, so people that I haven’t had a chance to talk to can clearly see what I think, and where I think we need to head,” Rainville said.
She stopped short of calling for an immediate pullout or the establishment of a timetable.
“I don’t think we should cut our losses and leave the Iraqi people to fend for themselves,” she said. “We’re closing in on the objectives. When we reach our objectives, it’s up to the Iraqi people.”
Rainville’s opponent, Democratic state Sen. Peter Welch, jumped on the comments as proof of what he sees as her evasive positions on Iraq. Welch has made opposition to the war a central theme in his campaign.
“In the last 48 hours, Martha Rainville called Iraq a ‘debacle’ and is now running a television ad implying she wants to bring the troops home now,” said Welch campaign manager Carolyn Dwyer. “This is an election-eve conversion, Vermonters will not buy it.”
Middlebury College political science professor Eric Davis said Rainville had changed her position on Iraq only slightly. But he doesn’t think the new ad will help her.
“She still is much less critical of the president than other (Republican) candidates” in close races, said Davis.
“Rainville’s change on the war seems to be very similar to what Bush was trying to say in his press conference yesterday – change the tactics but no question about the validity of the mission,” Davis said. “She still uses the phrase ‘complete the mission.”‘
Davis was referring to a White House news conference on Wednesday in which President Bush said he was dissatisfied with progress in Iraq, but didn’t want the United State to withdraw or set a timetable for withdrawal.
Rainville’s Iraq ad began running this week.
Rainville resigned her post as adjutant general earlier this year so she could run for Congress. She has promoted her candidacy by saying her experience leading the Vermont National Guard during wartime would serve her and Vermonters well in Congress.
Recent polls have given Welch a small lead.
“I think it’s just too late for her,” Davis said. “I think the problem she’s running into is public opinion is in a different place than she is. I think public opinion would like more explicit timetables and a larger number of troops coming home sooner.”
Rainville has repeatedly balked at saying whether she would have voted to go to war in Iraq in the first place.
“I think the partisanship, the focus on looking backward in history just to make political points is really obscuring and limiting the discussion that we need to be having on Iraq,” she said.
Rainville said her use of the word “debacle” was unfortunate.
“To me, the debacle of Iraq refers not so much to the military situation, but to the partisan divide (in this country) in how Iraq has been used to further that divide,” she said.
AP-ES-10-26-06 1713EDT
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