8th Dist. hopeful gets specific on Iraq funding
One Republican candidate in the 8th Congressional District race is trying to separate himself from his opponents on financial issues stemming from the Iraq war.
Kenneth Arnold of Gurnee says the United States should loan money to Iraq for rebuilding efforts instead of relying on this country's taxpayers.
Steve Greenberg of Long Grove and Gurnee resident Kirk Morris haven't come out with specifics on financing the Iraq rebuilding. All three candidates support the Iraq war.
Declared Republicans will choose from Morris, Greenberg and Arnold in the Feb. 5 primary. The 8th Congressional District includes northwest Cook, western Lake and eastern McHenry counties.
Greenberg, Arnold and Morris addressed the Iraq war in a Daily Herald questionnaire. Arnold and Greenberg also provided elaboration in follow-up interviews.
Arnold said he'd push for the United States to provide Iraq with a 75-year loan for rebuilding efforts -- not grants with this country's tax money. He said Iraq would repay the debt with 25 percent of net-profit revenues from oil sales to the United States and elsewhere.
"Why should the American taxpayer be spending all that money on what arguably is one of the two richest countries in the world because of the oil?" said Arnold, 51.
Greenberg, 36, said the United States cannot turn its back on Iraq and the Middle East in general, which could allow the region to become an "open haven" for Islamic terrorists.
It's too soon to get into specifics about funding Iraq reconstruction, he said.
"My biggest position is to make sure we manage the people's money in the United States the right way," Greenberg said.
Although he didn't comment on the financial aspects of Iraq, the 49-year-old Morris said achieving victory there is the best course of action.
"Whatever the issues surrounding our entry into Iraq might have been, we now have the responsibility of providing a stable Iraq before we can withdraw," he said.
Greenberg is a former minor-league hockey player who has a lead role in his family's business of developing solutions for small businesses competing with large retail chains.
Morris is a sales executive for a biofuels manufacturing company. His son, Geoffrey, died while fighting in the Marines in 2004.
Arnold, a senior benefit plan management consultant, made an unsuccessful bid for an 8th Congressional District seat in the 2006 GOP primary.
On the Democratic end, incumbent Melissa Bean of Barrington faces Lindenhurst activist Randi Scheurer in the Feb. 5 primary.