LITTLE ROCK, AR – During another exclusive interview, Jeff Nixon of ¡Hola! Arkansas interviewed U.S. Congressman Vic Snyder who recently returned from Iraq. Snyder spent the weekend of October 17 in Iraq.



“My sense of troop morale is that everyone is doing as well as can be expected. The soldiers seem very committed to what they are doing. I was able to sit and talk with about five Arkansans. Two of the soldiers have children that they have never seen because they have been in Iraq serving their country and those they care for,” said the congressman.



As a physician he believes that the troops are getting adequate care both in Iraq and when they return home. “At the moment we have had some outbreaks of Malaria, in that particular case it could be that they aren’t taking their vaccine’s, they could be prone to disease but most importantly it is being examined and controlled.”



As for the rebuilding of Iraq, Snyder agreed with President Bush reconstruction funds should be a grant to Iraq. Snyder said, “The trip to Iraq confirmed that I made the right decision when I voted against lending Iraq the $18 billion the United States plans to use to help rebuild the country.” He added, “If we are successful and Iraq becomes the Iraq we want it to be, at least it won’t be a breeding ground for terrorist. If Iraq becomes free and stable, we will have a major oil producing country that can help us stabilize the United States oil partnerships. If we were to give Iraq a loan rather than a grant, it would have been perceived by the Iraqis as if we’re trying to ease them out of their oil money.”



“Though I did visit a Hospital and School, people have to understand that this is a third world country. I think that people assume that we are going to put so much money into Iraq schools that somehow they are going to become better and more efficient than our school system and that their health care system will become better than our health care.” Snyder continued, “the children and teachers are content and they have newly painted classrooms but on the contrary this is a third world school. It is a school that our ancestors ...