GOP whip pans Iraq, stimulus plans

Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, on a trip to Central Asia and the Middle East, says Iraq is a “fragile success” but that an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. forces would be unwise.

Cantor, speaking yesterday on a conference call from Kabul, Afghanistan, also took a dim view of the Senate version of the economic-stimulus package that could come up f
or a vote Tuesday.

“It isn’t much different than the House bill” that didn’t gain any GOP votes, said Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House.

Cantor and four other House members are making the trip a week after allies of the U.S.-backed prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, made gains in Iraq’s provincial elections.

Some Iraqi officials suggested last week that the elections signal stability and that President Barack Obama could withdraw troops faster than the end of 2011. That is the timeline that Iraqi officials worked out with the Bush administration.

“I do not think it would be prudent to think we could do anything quicker because of the fragility of the situation,“ Cantor said yesterday.

“We need to leave campaign rhetoric and promises aside,“ he added, in an apparent reference to Obama’s campaign promise to withdraw combat brigades from Iraq within 16 months.

Cantor spoke on the second day of the tour, which had begun with an 18-hour day in Iraq. The delegation spent time in Baghdad, Balad and Anbar province, receiving briefings from generals and speaking with troops.

Cantor said Iraqi officials note a marked decrease in violence.

In Afghanistan, which he called one of the world’s four or five poorest nations, Cantor said the U.S. needs to focus on helping to nurture a self-sustaining government so the country is not a haven for al-Qaida or other terrorists.

As for the stimulus, on Jan. 28 Cantor helped marshal all House Republicans to stand against the House’s $819 billion version of the bill.

Thursday night, the president turned up the heat on Republicans in an appearance at House Democrats’ annual retreat at the Kingsmill resort in James City County.

“We are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,“ Obama said.

Cantor said yesterday that the Senate version of the bill is “chock-full of spending programs” that might be laudable, but don’t “stem the crisis” by creating jobs.

“I’m hopeful that we can work together when the bill goes to conference to get a meaningful bill,“ Cantor said.

Cantor’s wife, Diana, F. Cantor, serves on the board of directors of Media General, parent company of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Contact Andrew Cain at (804) 649-6645 or .