[NYTr] Troops Cheer Call for Iraq Withdrawal - At Natl Guard Convention

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[another report on the Puerto Rican Governor's call for a withdrawal
from Iraq at the National Guard Convention -- and the standing ovation
he got from the troops. -NYTr]


AP via Info Clearing House - Aug 27, 2007
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18258.htm

Troops Cheer Call For Iraq Withdrawal

Governor's Call For U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq Greeted With Standing
Ovation At National Guard Conference

By AP

08/27/07 (AP) A call by Puerto Rico's governor for a U.S. withdrawal
from Iraq earned a standing ovation from a conference of more than
4,000 National Guardsmen.

Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila said Saturday that the U.S. administration has
"no new strategy and no signs of success" and that prolonging the war
would needlessly put guardsmen in harm's way.

"The war in Iraq has fractured the political will of the United States
and the world," he said at the opening of the 129th National Guard
Association general conference. "Clearly, a new war strategy is
required and urgently."

Acevedo said sending more troops to Iraq would be a costly blunder.

"By increasing the number of National Guard and reserve troops, we put
our soldiers in danger for the umpteenth time since the beginning of
the global war on terrorism," said the governor, adding U.S.
territories and states need Guard reserves in the event of natural
disasters and domestic disturbances.

Acevedo, a Democrat, has called on Washington to withdraw troops from
Iraq in the past, but has not been a vocal critic of the war.

Col. David Carrion Baralt, the Guard's top official in the U.S.
Caribbean territory, said Acevedo received a standing ovation.

"Maybe the (officers) were not expecting those kinds of comments, but
having a dialogue is the point of conferences like these," Carrion said
by phone.

The nonpartisan National Guard Association represents nearly 45,000
current and former Air and Army National Guard officers and petitions
Congress for resources.

About 1,800 Puerto Rican guardsmen are stationed overseas. It was not
immediately clear how many were deployed in Iraq.

"The daily death toll of Americans and their allies has caused
irreparable anguish here in Puerto Rico, and throughout the country.
The same could be said for the people of Iraq," Acevedo said.

© MMVII The Associated Press