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Rep. Rice returns from Iraq
By Holly Cook
In May, Rep. Joe Rice (D-Littleton) packed his bags for his fourth tour in Iraq.
By the end of December, the 20-year serviceman will be back for good following a short stint on duty at Fort Benning, Ga.
For the last six months, Rice has been acting as the primary mentor and trainer for the new Iraqi and Baghdad police force, as a colonel for the United State Army Reserves.
He helped train Iraqi security to set up and analyze a crime scene, protect evidence and present a case in a courtroom.
“My duties involve working with Iraq’s security ministries to communicate information about the development of Iraq’s military and police and the transition of security responsibilities from U.S. forces to Iraqi forces,” Rice said in a letter to his constituents in September.
Since U.S. forces are now limited to the countryside, these daily security measures are being followed through by the Iraqis, according to Rice.
Rice said it was quite a process to set them up with forensic capabilities and then to train them.
And even though there has been progress in Iraq, he says that it will take a long time before “things are stable.”
On Nov. 18, Rice briefly returned to Colorado to appear on the PBS news program Studio 12 to talk about his time in Iraq.
Studio 12 host Tamara Banks spent two weeks with Rice’s unit filming a documentary on the situation in Iraq.
“It’s still a dangerous place but it’s far better now,” Rice said on Studio 12. “And we hope it continues to get better in the future.”
The same could be said for his home state. According to Rice, there are major issues still facing Colorado including comprehensive health care reform, how to further improve education, continuing to promote a healthy business climate, protecting our environment and furthering our use of renewable energy.
Rice recently joined more than 20 Colorado state legislators to help Colorado’s “burgeoning green energy industry.”
The legislators are urging U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet to help “ensure that the Senate energy bill, which is to be combined with the pending Senate climate bill, does not disproportionately fund nuclear reactors and coal plants, jeopardizing green, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency technologies,” the official press release said.
Legislators are concerned about language in the Senate version that would allow nuclear and coal technologies to have unlimited funding from the Clean Energy Deployment Administration, which could seriously limit the program’s impact on renewable and efficiency technologies.
“The state of Colorado stands out as a shining example of how smart investment in green energy technologies can create renewable clean energy, green jobs, and more opportunities for all Americans,” the letter to Bennet said.
“We sincerely hope you will stand firm in supporting the momentous gains we’ve made here by ensuring that CEDA cannot be used to undermine the efforts of Colorado’s burgeoning green energy industry by over-subsidizing coal and nuclear plants at the expense of green technologies.”
By the end of December, the 20-year serviceman will be back for good following a short stint on duty at Fort Benning, Ga.
For the last six months, Rice has been acting as the primary mentor and trainer for the new Iraqi and Baghdad police force, as a colonel for the United State Army Reserves.
He helped train Iraqi security to set up and analyze a crime scene, protect evidence and present a case in a courtroom.
“My duties involve working with Iraq’s security ministries to communicate information about the development of Iraq’s military and police and the transition of security responsibilities from U.S. forces to Iraqi forces,” Rice said in a letter to his constituents in September.
Since U.S. forces are now limited to the countryside, these daily security measures are being followed through by the Iraqis, according to Rice.
Rice said it was quite a process to set them up with forensic capabilities and then to train them.
And even though there has been progress in Iraq, he says that it will take a long time before “things are stable.”
On Nov. 18, Rice briefly returned to Colorado to appear on the PBS news program Studio 12 to talk about his time in Iraq.
Studio 12 host Tamara Banks spent two weeks with Rice’s unit filming a documentary on the situation in Iraq.
“It’s still a dangerous place but it’s far better now,” Rice said on Studio 12. “And we hope it continues to get better in the future.”
The same could be said for his home state. According to Rice, there are major issues still facing Colorado including comprehensive health care reform, how to further improve education, continuing to promote a healthy business climate, protecting our environment and furthering our use of renewable energy.
Rice recently joined more than 20 Colorado state legislators to help Colorado’s “burgeoning green energy industry.”
The legislators are urging U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet to help “ensure that the Senate energy bill, which is to be combined with the pending Senate climate bill, does not disproportionately fund nuclear reactors and coal plants, jeopardizing green, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency technologies,” the official press release said.
Legislators are concerned about language in the Senate version that would allow nuclear and coal technologies to have unlimited funding from the Clean Energy Deployment Administration, which could seriously limit the program’s impact on renewable and efficiency technologies.
“The state of Colorado stands out as a shining example of how smart investment in green energy technologies can create renewable clean energy, green jobs, and more opportunities for all Americans,” the letter to Bennet said.
“We sincerely hope you will stand firm in supporting the momentous gains we’ve made here by ensuring that CEDA cannot be used to undermine the efforts of Colorado’s burgeoning green energy industry by over-subsidizing coal and nuclear plants at the expense of green technologies.”
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