Sen. Webb in Kuwait with Virginia Army National Guard

By: Lowell
Published On: 11/30/2007 4:23:24 PM

The following photos are of Senator Webb with members of the Virginia Army National Guard at the Kuwait Naval Base (Friday, November 30, 2007). Photo credit: SGT David Begley

By the way, I received this from Sen. Webb's office:

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) will hold a telephone conference call on Saturday morning, upon returning from his official trip to Iraq and Kuwait.  Accompanied by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), Webb has spent the latter part of the week in meetings with General David Petraeus, Iraqi government officials and the Virginia Army National Guard.

A member of the Senate Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Veterans Affairs, Webb has been an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. Despite the improvements in security where additional troops have been deployed, Webb has repeatedly said that the Administration lacks an overarching strategy that includes robust diplomacy which will allow us to reduce our presence in Iraq while increasing stability in the region.

Senator Webb is no stranger to war or the military. He saw extensive heavy combat as a Marine in Vietnam and served as Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration. His son Jimmy served an extended tour as a Marine infantryman in Iraq.

Senator Webb plans to appear on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, December 2.

More photos on the "flip."



Comments



Iraq instead of Brazil (PM - 12/1/2007 10:23:03 AM)
Webb is a no nonsense legislator.  Some legislators arrange boondoggles over the holidays:

Rep. Eliot Engel's hardy band of 10 fact-seekers was in Brasilia yesterday, meeting with lawmakers, getting ready for an arduous float up the Amazon today as their journey winds up. (They've already been to Rio and Iguazu Falls.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/29/AR2007112902223_2.html

Somehow I doubt this group was all that interested in going to Brazil to assess the condition of the rain forests.  But that's just the cynic in me.  Maybe they went to Iguazu Falls to see if gravity was still working.

Webb is great.  An Iraq trip cannot be fun.

When I was in government, a prominent Republican, a tax-cutting type, arranged a speaking engagement in Liechtenstein for the week around Christmas. !!! The topic was suitably arcane.  Why Liechtenstein?  Could it have had anything to do with the family ski trip to the Alps?  Here's how Wikipedia describes the country:

The Principality of Liechtenstein (IPA: ?l?kt?nsta?n (German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein, (IPA: [?f??st?ntu?m ?l?çt?n?ta?n]) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort....


You're right (Catzmaw - 12/1/2007 6:01:46 PM)
I really don't see Webb ever finagling a junket to cover for personal fun and frolic.  Every official trip he takes while in office will always have a point to it.  You can bank on that.  It's one of the things I admire about him, that sense of seriousness and focus on the task at hand.  Look at his recent Vietnam trip, which seemed primarily to be so he could visit Hong's family.  Even though he took the time to meet with Vietnamese officials (the trip got good coverage in the Vietnamese press), he did not portray it as anything other than a personal trip with a little business thrown in.  Of course, Webb was also the only Senator beside Claire McCaskill to appear for the confirmation of our ambassador to Vietnam a few weeks ago.