News-Record.com

In an interview for his upcoming election, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble criticized Iraq war planners for not anticipating postwar security problems. Saying he was trying to be as generous as possible to the Republican administration, Coble said "the post-invasion strategy was inadequate at best."

"We're there now and don't appear to have a good strategy," he said.

But he said there's plenty of blame to go around, including the Congress, intelligence agencies and the Clinton administration. Coble said he still backs the decision to go to war.

Here's what we wrote about his position on Iraq two years ago when President Bush asked Congress for authorization to go to war.

"U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, said he opposes an invasion of Iraq unless Bush is able to get other countries involved.
"If the president says we're ready to go, I would lean in favor of going," Coble said. "But I hope we could be assured that our neighbors around the world are able and willing to assist us."
If possible, Coble said he would avoid war altogether if thorough inspections of the country showed that Saddam wasn't developing weapons of mass destruction."(Sept. 7, 2002)

On a side note, if you've ever had a conversation with Howard Coble, you know that he likes to use your name several times during the conversation. I have to admit, it's an effective tool for connecting with people, and I'm sure he's better at remembering names at dinner parties than I am. By my count, he used my name at least 35 times during our 20 minute interview.