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Retired Marine Lt. Col. Matthew W. Morgan of Traverse City is challenging Rep. Jack Bergman for his seat in Congress. Morgan served a total 18 months in Iraq, where this photo was taken.(Photo: Courtesy of Matthew W. Morgan)

Michigan Democrats have tapped a Iraq veteran with a long career in the Marines to challenge freshman Republican Rep. Jack Bergman also retired Marine officer for his seat representing northern Michigan in 2018.

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Matthew W. Morgan, a Democrat, said Wednesday he filed the paperwork to run against Bergman. It will be his first bid for public office, inspired in part by the growing number of Iraq veterans in Congress.

Bergman defeated Democrat Lon Johnson last fall to succeed Rep. Dan Benishek of Crystal Falls, who retired. Bergman, 70, is a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, who worked as a commercial airline pilot for Northwest Airlines for many years while serving in the Reserves.

Morgan, 45, an Iraq veteran, retired from the Marine Corps in 2013 after 24 years, starting as an infantry officer but spending his last four years in the service as the director of public affairs for the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command out of Norfolk, Virginia.

Prior to that, Morgan spent time as a strategic communications officer in the office of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the Pentagon during the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He spent a total 18 months on the ground in Iraq, in addition to time he spent supporting counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa, he said.

After the (fall) election, I was left searching, and in early January when Congress took to the floor and started running this anti-EPA agenda, I got really concerned, Morgan said in an interview.

Then discussions turned to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. I got into several conversations with some local folks who had been searching for a viable candidate. When I was offered the opportunity to consider it, it struck me as an opportunity to get back into public service.

In addition to health care, issues that concern Morgan include protecting funding for cleaning up the Great Lakes and comprehensive immigration reform, noting the population of migrant workers that farmers in the district rely on.

Morgan, a 1993 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is now an independent writer and film consultant, working on movies including American Sniper and Arrival.

After his retirement from the Marines, he and his wife, Angie, decided to return to her native Michigan to raise their young sons, he said. He has lived in Traverse City for four years.

Morgan said while he and Bergman are both retired Marine officers, they are from different generations, with Bergmans service including the Cold War era.

I firmly believe that getting more particularly post-9/11 veterans into Congress is going to help bring some degree of civility and business/workman-like attitude to Congress, Morgan said.

Asked about his new challenger, Bergman spokeswoman Farahn Morgan said his priority is working with constituents and colleagues to get things done for the 1st District.

That's a promise he made during his campaign, and it's a promise he's keeping as he serves the First District in the House of Representatives, she said by email.

As a member of Congress and a general in the Marine Corps, his commitment has always been to people and to public service. That's where he's focusing his energy.

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On the 14th anniversary of the launch of an American-led invasion that reshaped the Middle East, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi metPresident Trump in the White House.

His visit was drowned out in the American news cycle by feverish coverage of hearings on Capitol Hill regarding Russian meddling in last year's election. Sensing the moment,Abadi gestured tothe national conversation, joking while sitting alongside Trump that he had nothing to do with wiretapping the then-candidate's phones. (Earlier in the day, FBI director James B. Comey had confirmed that his agency had found no evidence to support Trump's allegations about wiretapping.)

But the White House's relationship with the Iraqi government is hardly a laughing matter. As U.S.-backed forces and Iraqi government troops steadily take back the crucial northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State, attention is shifting to what happens once the battle is won. There are vexing challenges ahead: The weak Shiite-led government in Baghdad has yet to prove it has the ability to govern provinces where Sunnis comprise the majority; a movement for a referendum on an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq is gaining traction; a host of other regional powers, including Turkey and Iran, are also exerting influence on the ground in competing ways.

We are proving that Daesh can be eliminated, Abadi asserted Monday, referring to the jihadists of the Islamic State. He was speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace,anagency of the government that the Trump administration plans to eliminate in its new proposed budget. Abadi offered a message of hope for his nation, arguing that things were looking up and that the country's fledgling democracy was successfully moving forward.

Still, critics, including human rights organizations, are concerned aboutthe effects of an entrenched and deepening sectarianism. Abadi's Shiite-dominated government remains distrusted in areas reclaimed from the Islamic State. KeyIranian-backed Shiite militias mobilized by Abadi's government to fight in the anti-Islamic State campaign have been accused of carrying out their own massacres of Sunnis deemed tohave collaborated with the extremist group.

A report to be aired by PBS Frontline on Tuesday details the mass disappearances of Sunni boys and men in a village outside of Baghdad once occupied by the Islamic State. Locals claim that the men were abducted by the Shiite fighters who had liberated the town from the jihadists. On a wider scale, as my colleagues have reported, the ineptitude of local officials and endemic graft among the police and judiciary in certain parts of Iraq have created room for Islamic State cells to return to provincial cities where they were only recently ousted.

We have inherited many problems, some of which are intrinsic in our society, Abadi admitted during his talk at the USIP.

It's uncertain how the Trump administration will reckon with any of theseproblems. Ever since the election campaign, Trump's messaging on Iraq has been confusing. On one hand, he consistently decried the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 (although it emerged thathe was for the war before he was against it) and signaled that he wanted a radical break from his party's history of engineering regime change and embarking on nation-building projects in the Middle East.

Butat the same time, Trumphas pushed for a more muscular approach to fighting the Islamic State and exhibited an alarming disregard for Iraqi sovereignty with his perplexing calls to take the nation's oil.

And then he decided to includeIraq onthe list of seven Muslim-majority countries in thetravelban to the United States. (A second executive order removed Iraq from the list and faces renewed legal challenges in the courts.)

President Trump has talked a lot about defeating the Islamic State but done virtually nothing to address Iraq itself, except to lump it in with other suspect states in a temporary travel ban, a move he ultimately reversed amid protests from his own commanders, who objected to treating an ally with the back of the hand, wrote Politico's Susan Glasser.

While the Obama administration deserves blame for sidestepping Iraqs political challenges, Mr.Trump has quickly exacerbated the trouble, noted a February editorial in The Washington Post.

The White House's proposed cuts to the State Department andits general apathy towardmultilateral diplomacy don't inspire observers with much confidence.

Trumps efforts to 'deconstruct'the non-Pentagon parts of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus as well as cuts to support for international institutions threatens to strip the United States of the tools required in Iraq and elsewhere, just when we need them most, wrote Jeff Prescott and Daniel Benaim, two former Obama administration officials, in Foreign Policy. Unless we plan another occupation of Iraq (or genuinely and absurdly seek to 'take the oil') it is a reality that as the fighting stops our military will step aside and the State Department, USAID, the IMF, and the U.N. will have to take over.

And the situation on the ground is incredibly complex. Beyond rising Kurdish nationalist aspirationsand the difficulty ofreintegrating Sunni parts of Iraq, Glasser pointed out that Iraq'sleaderalso has to deal with Baghdad's turbulent politics.

Abadi, who faces reelection next year, has much to worry about from within his own Shiite political party as well as from the former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, widely seen as still waiting in the wings for Abadi to stumble, Glasser wrote.

Trump has criticized his predecessors for gifting Iraq to Iran. But theTrump administration's antagonism toward Iran couldalienate Abadi and other prominent Iraqi Shiites in Baghdad.

Using Iraq as a battleground as part of a broader strategy to counter Iran would also ignore the foundation of Americas presence there as the invited guest of the Iraqi government,Prescott and Benaimwrote. "As much as Iraq needs us, we also need Iraq, particularly as we pursue persistent threats against the homeland including as a hub for the continued fight against the Islamic State in Syria."

In Washington, Abadi sought to show that his government is capable of being a solid partner to the United States. But the underlying tensions were not far from the surface.

We have to work with others. We have to build bridges, Abadi remarked at the close of his USIP talk. He ended with another joke at Trump's expense: Otherwise, what do you do? You build walls?

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Trump inherits the Iraq War. But what will he do? - Washington Post

The Prime Minister says no discussions have been held on a possible extension of a New Zealand Defence Force training mission in Iraq.

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee has just completed a secret visit to Kiwi forces currently stationed at Camp Taji, where they have been training the Iraqi army combatting the Islamic State in key cities like Mosul.

Brownlee wants to see New Zealand soldiers move into an intelligence role, and believes they could have a future mission in helping rebuild Iraq and fix the conditions that allowed the Islamic State to establish itself.

Asked if the mission may be further extended, Prime Minister Bill English said it hasn't been discussed.

"I'll be getting advice from the defence minister and the chief of defence," English said. "We're pleased with the role New Zealand troops are playing there - it does look like they're making progress and we're pleased we've been able to contribute."

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No decision on keeping NZ troops in Iraq - Newstalk ZB

Reuters

Trump makes up with Iraq's leader after travel-ban snub Charlotte Observer President Donald Trump welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi to the White House on Monday to talk about the fight against the Islamic State and to smooth over any lingering hurt feelings about the administration's original decision to include ... Iraq's Abadi says he wins Trump's assurances of more US supportReuters Trump Bashes Predecessors' Iraq Strategies in Abadi MeetingBloomberg Trump, al-Abadi and Iraq's futureHuffington Post Washington Times -Business Insider all 61 news articles »

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Trump makes up with Iraq's leader after travel-ban snub - Charlotte Observer

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Oleg Nikishin / Getty Images

An Iraqi man holds a flag during a march in defiance of US threats to invade Iraq, on Feb. 4, 2003, in the city of Mosul. Thousands of men and women in military fatigues and carrying assault rifles chanted, No peace, no surrender.

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Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Lt. Col. Rickey Grabowski addresses the US Marines of Task Force Tarawa in the northern desert of Kuwait at Camp Shoup on March 19, 2003, the day before their move north to invade Iraq.

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Pool / Getty Images

President George W. Bush meets with US House leaders to brief them on his upcoming speech on Iraq, at the White House on March 17, 2003. From left to right: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Bush, and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Bush had given Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 48 hours to flee the country or face invasion.

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Ramzi Haidar / AFP / Getty Images

Smoke covers the presidential palace compound in Baghdad on March 21, 2003, during a massive US-led air raid on the Iraqi capital. The invasion plunged the country into a deadly insurgency despite a sweeping political transformation.

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Marco Di Lauro / Getty Images

US missiles hit Baghdad on March 21, 2003.

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Patrick Baz / AFP / Getty Images

Iraqis carry an injured employee at the al-Salhiya telecommunications center after it was hit by a missile during a coalition air raid in Baghdad.

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Eric Feferberg / AFP / Getty Images

US Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, wake up in a mud field after heavy sandstorms early in the morning of March 26, 2003, in Nasiriyah, about 300 kilometers south of Baghdad.

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Joe Raedle / Getty Images

A US Marine from Task Force Tarawa patrols a wheat field in search of enemy combatants or stockpiles of weapons on March 31, 2003, in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, site of one of the bloodiest battles so far of the war.

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Getty Images

A man is taken out of an ambulance at a hospital after a weapons cache exploded injuring dozens of people on April 14, 2003, in a part of Baghdad. While parts of the capital were still reeling from fighting and looting, other parts of the city began to show signs of normalcy as people rode buses, shopped in markets, and went on with everyday life.

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Ramzi Haidar / AFP / Getty Images

Fifteen-year-old Ali Isamil is comforted by his grandmother in a Baghdad hospital on April 3, 2003. Ismail suffered fourth-degree burns and had both arms amputated as a result of the coalition bombing of the Diala bridge area, which killed six members of his family.

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Scott Nelson / Getty Images

US Army 3rd Division 3-7 Infantry Lt. Mike Washburn (kneeling), from Yorktown, Virginia, orders an Iraqi woman to the ground so she can be searched during a search and destroy mission March 27, 2003, near the town of An Najaf, Iraq. The 3rd Infantry Division continued to push further north into Iraq but were hampered by pro-Saddam militiamen carrying out ambushes and attacks using small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

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Odd Andersen / AFP / Getty Images

US soldiers arrest a suspected Iraqi soldier at a checkpoint in the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr on April 5, 2003.

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Cris Bouroncle / AFP / Getty Images

US Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, emerge from a building on March 25, 2003, during the takeover of a hospital allegedly used for military purposes by Iraqi forces at the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.

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Odd Andersen / AFP / Getty Images

British soldiers advance toward central Basra April 7, 2003.

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Sean Smith / Getty Images

A dead body is abandoned on a table outside a hospital in Baghdad on April 11, 2003. Lack of water and electricity and poor security left the Baghdad hospital system in a state of collapse after the US invasion.

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Alex Wong / Getty Images

Callie Gates (left) of Boston and Amelia Rutter of Minneapolis sing during an anti-war candlelight vigil at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on March 16, 2003, the same day President George W. Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar for a summit on Iraq.

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Photofusion / Getty Images

A vigil outside English Parliament during an Iraq debate and vote by MPs in London on March 18, 2003.

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Greg Wood / AFP / Getty Images

Workers begin to clean up a No War slogan painted on the Concert Hall sail of the Sydney Opera House on March 18, 2003. Two anti-war protesters were arrested after they scaled the building to paint the slogan, which remained clearly visible as Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced his countrys decision to commit to a US-led invasion of Iraq.

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Getty Images

Iraqi National Museum Deputy Director Mushin Hasan holds his head in his hands as he sits on destroyed artifacts in Baghdad on April 13, 2003, after the museum had been severely looted in recent days.

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Romeo Gacad / AFP / Getty Images

US Army Sgt. Craig Zentkovich photographs a pink bedroom at Saddam Husseins presidential palace on April 13, 2003.

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Patrick Baz / AFP / Getty Images

A US Army Ranger displays gold- and silver-plated Kalashnikov rifles belonging to Uday, the eldest late son of Saddam Hussein, found at his mothers residence in Baghdads main presidential place on April 16, 2003.

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Rick Loomis / Getty Images

A US Army solider attempts to pet a cheetah after it and several other animals were left behind when members of the Iraqi regime fled the Presidential Palace complex area during the US invasion. Most of the animals appeared to be undernourished and in poor health.

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Chris Hondros / Getty Images

A US Marine pulls down a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on March 21, 2003, in Safwan, Iraq. Chaos reigned in southern Iraq as coalition troops continued their offensive to remove Iraqs leader from power.

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Ramzi Haidar / AFP / Getty Images

A US Marine covers the face of Iraqi President Saddam Husseins statue with the US flag in Baghdads al-Fardous square on April 9, 2003. The toppling of the statue was immediately seized on as symbolizing the overthrow of one of the worlds most notorious despots.

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Getty Images

On April 7, 2003, US Marines carry the body of Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, one of the first Americans killed in the US-led Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 21. Gutierrez came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from his native Guatemala and was posthumously made a citizen of the US.

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Stephen Jaffe / AFP / Getty Images

President George W. Bush addresses the nation aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, before a large Mission Accomplished banner, on May 1, 2003.

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26 Pictures From The Early Days Of The Iraq War

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