by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
Tillie Fowler is no longer a U.S. representative, but that doesn’t mean she’s out of power.
Fowler, who left Congress in 2000, visited the Meninak Club Monday to talk about the looming war with Iraq, terrorism, the United Nations, American troops in Korea and her life in the private sector.
Although Fowler no longer holds an elected position, her experience on the House Armed Services Committee led Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to appoint her to his defense policy board. The experienced board of 25 members meet for two days about every six weeks at the Pentagon.
The tension in the Middle East was the main focus of her speech Monday at the Radisson.
“None of us want war but there are times when it is necessary,” said Fowler. “Sept. 11 truly changed U.S. foreign policy forever. That was not an isolated event. As a reminder, I want to give you a glimpse of the bloody toll taken.”
Fowler recapped the history of domestic terrorism in our country to point out the threat to national security and need for action.
In 1979, American hostages were taken in Iran. In 1983, a U.S. military installation in Beirut was bombed. Occurrences continued with a hijacking in 1985, the Gulf War in 1991, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the bombing of an American military installation in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and the 1998 attack on U.S.S. Cole.
“Thinking there’s no link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden stretches credibility,” she asserted. “They hate everything we stand for.”
As for the purpose of invading Iraq, Fowler contends the government seeks to eliminate weapons of mass destruction from the hands of terrorists and establish a new regime in that country. The attack itself will be funded by the United States but Fowler promised we should receive assistance in the rebuilding of Iraq, partly from revenue generated from the oil wells there. Regardless of the duration of the war, she conceded there will be deficits for a long time to come.
“There is a lot of concern that once we go to war, there may be terrorist attacks in this country,” she said. “Well, there’s going to be terrorist attacks in this country whether we go to war or not.
“We are trying to target our bombs but Hussein puts his military installations near civilians on purpose. Today, 5,000 children under the age of five are dying every month in Iraq due to starvation, malnutrition and disease. Hussein is taking the money that the UN has approved for food. That money is going to his war machines, not his people.”
Because of the gridlock over the war in the United Nations, Fowler believes a new organization may be necessary. Disagreements with foreign governments, especially France, who are more concerned with their own immediate interests has caused frustration on the part of America’s leaders.
“The United Nations is not a structure we need in the 21st Century,” she said.
Further complicating the issue is the North Koreans, who are busily supplying weapons to the highest bidder. Their accomplice is China, the gateway to the West.
“Unless China comes on board, we can’t stop them,” she stressed. “The railroads go through China. They fly over China’s air space. That’s the avenue through which most of it goes out.”
According to Fowler, Vice President Dick Cheney will meet with China’s leaders to enlist their support. Worse case scenario: if that doesn’t happen, Japan and South Korea will arm themselves with nuclear weapons.
As part of restructuring where our forces are globally, it is likely American GIs will be pulled from that area.
“South Korea has a huge army,” she said. “They can do the primary defense and we can come in there as a backup with our planes and bombs. Why do we need 37,000 Americans there at risk?”
Fowler balances her time between her home in Jacksonville and her duties in Washington, D.C. lobbying for Holland & Knight.
She expressed no desire to run for public office again.
“Never,” she said. “I’m very happy with my life. I served 15 years[on City Council and in Congress] and it was a privilege to do so, but I like what I’m doing now. I can still have input into the things I care about. I’m involved in public service in a different way.”