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• Rep. Wilson's official site
• Rep. Wilson in The Albuquerque Tribune
• Q&A with Rep. Wilson
• Congressional Air Force Caucus

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Tavis: Congresswoman Heather Wilson, Republican of New Mexico, is the only female veteran serving in the US Congress, and the first Air Force Academy graduate ever to serve on Capitol Hill. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, she just returned from a trip to the Middle East, a five day visit that took her to Iraq, Jordan, and other stops. She joins us tonight from Albuquerque. Congresswoman, nice to have you on the program.

Heather Wilson: Good to be with you, Tavis.

Tavis: I want to talk about some international issues and some domestic issues, if I might. Certainly we are gripped here stateside, talking about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. I want to get to that in just a second. But let me start with your trip to Iraq. And I want to ask a pretty simple question. What did you make of it when you were just there?

Wilson: Well, I was very glad to be there and of course, good to see the troops. Their morale seems to be pretty high. They feel like they're doing the job they've been asked to do, and that we support their families and support them back here at home. That's real important to them. It's a very important time for Iraq, because they're moving forward of course with a referendum on their constitution in October, and then full national elections in December. So, so this fall and this winter will be very important for the future of Iraq.

Tavis: Let's talk first about the constitution. Your sense of it is?

Wilson: Well, I think they've got a constitution, there's going to be controversy about it, of course, we went through that with our own constitution, where it was only finally ratified when they committed to the first ten amendments, or the presentation of those amendments, the Bill of Rights. So, so I think what it will help to do, though, is to create the political momentum for Iraq's future, and that momentum can take momentum away from the insurgency. The insurgency is concentrated mostly in central part of Iraq. Security in other parts of the country are much better. And as we train Iraqi security forces, we can then begin to let them own the security in their own neighborhoods and reduce American security forces.

Tavis: Let me ask you, when and if you think that's going to happen? That is to say, reducing the American forces?

Wilson: I think the, probably the answer to that is eventually. You don't set a specific date on things like that. I think you judge based on the circumstances at the time as things evolve, and region by region. There are probably 12 provinces in Iraq where there's almost no insurgency at all, and where increasingly the Iraqis are taking over more and more responsibility for the safety of their own neighborhoods. And that will, that should continue. But we'll have large numbers of troops there certainly through the election, and probably through a significant amount of next year, as the Iraqi people own their own country.

Tavis: Is 'eventually' an answer that the people of New Mexico ought to accept? Is 'eventually' an answer that the American people ought to accept?

Wilson: I think it would be wrong to set a specific date, because then you give hope to the insurgency that, well, if we can just wait until that time, then we can go back to the way it used to be. Then we can run this country without the will of the majority of the people in Iraq. All the people in that region want a stable, self-governing Iraq that's at peace with its neighbors. That's what we want too. And so we have people who are willing to help us in achieving that.

Tavis: Since you were once part of the military, assess to me in a way that only you can, as a unique member of Congress, what the troop morale is like. We debate every day, and I'm always fascinated by this, we debate on this and other shows, and talk about on this and other programs, what our policy is in Iraq, what our policy is going to be in Iraq. We even talk about the troops, how long they're going to stay, how many more are needed, do we need fewer. We have these conversations all the time. What is the troop morale? What about them?

Wilson: The guys that I was with, the morale was really very high. We flew in, in the back of a C-130, our C-130 broke, so we ended up with a bunch of guys from the Idaho National Guard. There were guys from Idaho, Utah, and I think Montana as well. And they were coming back from their two weeks of leave to do their last stretch of a one month assignment in Iraq. So you'd think that maybe they would be a little bummed.

But they were, they were actually, morale was very good, they were eager to be doing what they were doing. They had a job to do, and they were determined to do it well. I think the most important thing for them is to know that whether somebody supports the war or doesn't support the war, that they support the soldiers, and we support the soldiers' families. And if we do that, their morale will stay high.

Tavis: So you agree with President Bush then that in terms of our US policy, in terms of our engagement, we ought to, to use his words, stay the course?

Wilson: I think we should. You know, certainly there were things there, strategic things, tactical things, programs that, well, I'll take those issues back to Washington. We'll have our discussions there to make sure that we stay generally on the right path. But I think our job now is to train those Iraqi security forces, to make the political process stays on track for these elections this fall, and in December, so that the Iraqi people can govern themselves. And when they can govern themselves, then we can go home. We're not a conquering army. That's not what America does. But we love freedom, and we're willing to fight for it, even if it's not our own.

Tavis: I guess the question, though, is, as we approach this constitution and its ratification, perhaps, even before the year is over, whether or not the people in Iraq see us as an occupying army. It's one thing for us to say we're not, one thing for us to believe that we are not. I guess the ultimate question is, what do they think? What do they believe now?

Wilson: My sense was that the vast majority of the Iraqi people are tremendously relieved at what we have--the opportunity that we have given to them. Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant. We were, met with the Kurds in the North, and of course the Kurds are deeply grateful to the American people, not only for what we did with the removal of Saddam Hussein, but 12 years ago, when we put the no-fly zone into Northern Iraq, we saved the entire Kurdish people from being wiped out by Saddam Hussein. They know that they owe us a great deal. But they also know they want to be a self-governing country again. And they're--thankful for our help in getting them this far.

Tavis: Let me ask you a two part question about your specific service in Congress. As I mentioned earlier, as the only female veteran to serve in Congress, I wonder specifically, what you bring to the Intelligence Committee, to Congress, as a woman, uniquely. I suspect there must be an answer to that. And secondly, I wonder whether or not you think that we might not be in the quagmire that we are in, if the folk in Washington making decisions had more of the kind of background that you have, where these war decisions are concerned?

Wilson: Well, I try to bring to the Congress, I think everybody comes to the Congress with their own story. You know, some of them are teachers, and some cotton farmers, and furniture dealers, and all kinds of other folks. I brought a lot of experience on national security, as well as experience having been in the military. We don't, we have fewer and fewer military veterans in the Congress. And I think that does give me a perspective that may be helpful to my colleagues. And I'm glad to try to use that on the Intelligence Committee.

Tavis: In a country, in a world, I should say, in a world where we are trying to fight this so-called 'war on terror,' in a world where we have no reason to believe at least that in the short term these threats are going to go away, hence President Bush's suggestion that we have to stay the course. I wonder whether or not you fret or fear the reality you just mentioned, which is that we are having these days, fewer and fewer members of Congress who are in fact veterans of the military. That doesn't sound like a good thing to me, to have people increasingly making these decisions, if we know we're gonna be engaged in more situations like these, people making decisions who don't have that kind of background.

Wilson: I'd sure like some more company in the Congress. And I try to encourage folks who have served in the military to step forward and serve in their communities as well as elected officials, after they finish their service in uniform. But there's also fewer and fewer Americans who serve. You know, after World War II, during World War II, one in 10 Americans served in uniform, men and women.

So, it was, you know, you couldn't get elected to be dogcatcher unless you had served in the military--or had a really good reason why you didn't. Now it's less than 1% of Americans who serve in the military. It's an all-volunteer force, we don't need that many people in the military, compared to what we needed in World War II. So America has changed. But I think I try to bring to the Congress my life experience, as all of us do, and use those lessons to help the country.

Tavis: Are you at all concerned, specking of military personnel and staffing, are you at all concerned with the difficulty, although they're seemingly starting to make some headway here, but the military, as you well know, has had a very difficult time of late hitting its recruiting numbers. Are you concerned about that?

Wilson: I am. --Most of the services it's not that problem, the Air Force isn't having a problem. It's, the biggest concern is the Army, particularly in the Guard and Reserve. And we're relying very heavily on the Guard and Reserve these days. And I'm very concerned about it. I think most of the leaders in the military are concerned about it as well.

And that's why--you've seen some advertisements, and I think it's right on to appeal to the parents and the influencers of young people; that serving your country in uniform is an honorable thing. And if it's something you feel called to do, you should explore it and possibly commit to it. I'm married to guy who still wears a uniform on weekends, and he's still a Reservist, and that's just part of what we do as a family.

Tavis: Speaking of the Guard and the Reserve and your being married to one of those guys who spends his weekends in uniform, there are a lot of folk like that who are being called upon right now to serve and to help in a humanitarian way, where Hurricane Katrina is concerned. Your thoughts about that, specifically what the role Congress ought to play, given this disaster. What ought the federal government do here?

Wilson: Well, we're gonna, I'm sure we're gonna be taking it up when we go back into session next week. And we'll undoubtedly have an aid package for the citizens in Louisiana. It's just awful. They're already moving in some federal help now with the military, the Corp of Engineers, several Guard and Reserve units might be tapped, including some here from New Mexico. But the first task is to safe life, and the next task is to sustain life and get food and medical care and the things people need, and shelter. And then third begins the rebuilding, and the rebuilding of hope that goes along with it.

Tavis: With all the money and the resources that we have spent and are spending in Iraq, do we have the resources that we need now that we have a domestic crisis?

Wilson: We are a very wealthy country. We are so fortunate to be here in America and where, you know, we have gone through so much in the last four years, I think any other country in the world would still be on its knees after what we sustained four years ago on a cool September morning. America is back on its feet. We're strong people, we give to each other, and we get ourselves back. And we'll do that this time too.

Tavis: Congresswoman Heather Wilson, Republican out of New Mexico, the only female veteran serving in the United States Congress. Nice to have you on here from Albuquerque. We'll do it again sometime.

Wilson: Thanks, Tavis.

Tavis: Thank you, Congresswoman. Up next on this program, singer Eric Benét. Stay with us.