Congress candidate decries Iraq invasion

Republican congressional candidate Jim Ogonowski, whose brother was an American Airline pilot killed on Sept. 11, 2001, said yesterday that President Bush "was wrong to invade Iraq" following the terrorist attacks.

"We all agree that Saddam [Hussein] was a brutal and ruthless dictator who killed tens of thousands of his own people and whose aggression destabilized the region," said the recently retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. "However, we lacked conclusive and irrefutable evidence that someone inside Iraq was actively supporting terror or planning to use weapons of mass destruction against the United States."

But in his first comments about Iraq, Ogonowski was adamant that American troops should not withdraw before victory is achieved.

"Although I think it was wrong to invade Iraq," Ogonowski said, "it does not change my determination to win the war in Iraq. I will never waver in keeping America safe and strong."

Ogonowski, 49, whose brother John was piloting American Airlines Flight 11 on 9/11, said American troops should return home only when "a stable and self- governing Iraq is in charge of its own security."

Ogonowski, who had declined to speak about the war before he retired from the Air Force in May, is currently the only Republican seeking to succeed Martin T. Meehan, who gave up his House seat to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Five Democrats, most of whom strongly oppose the Iraq war, are also vying for the seat, along with an independent candidate and a Constitution Party candidate.

Thomas P. Tierney, a Framingham Republican who lost to Meehan in 2004 and plans to announce his candidacy next week, criticized Ogonowski yesterday for speaking against the war in Iraq.

"I was astounded by what he came out with; I disagree with him," Tierney said. "It was the right decision to go in, as I see it."

Tierney said he believes that American troops should stay in Iraq until at least September.