NORTH COUNTY -- Despite continuing violence and increasing calls for a timetable to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, North County's three Republican congressional representatives say they support the Bush administration's oft-repeated vow to "stay the course."

U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa, Brian Bilbray and Duncan Hunter each said in recent interviews that abandoning Iraq before the country's government has been able to achieve stability and quell the violence would be a fatal mistake.

"I think it's wrong to even talk about withdrawing with our troops engaged," said Bilbray, a Carlsbad resident elected in June to fill the unexpired term of the former 50th District representative, imprisoned Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Hunter, chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, said that while he was fully cognizant of polls showing that the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq, it is important to leave behind a stable country.

"Now is the time to be steady and not be watching the political winds," said the El Cajon lawmaker whose 52nd District includes parts of North County. "I have always said that this would not be easy. Occupations always wear thin on the nation being occupied and the nation doing the occupying, but this operation requires steady resolve."

Issa acknowledged that the resolve of the U.S. and its coalition partners is being tested by the ongoing debate in Washington and within military circles. The continuing sectarian violence and U.S. deaths and injuries fuel the debate, but it's too late to abandon Iraq, he said.

"You can't leave innocent people," the 49th District representative and Vista resident said. "We can question our conduct of the war, but not our commitment to the Iraqi people."

Civil war?

The escalation in violence between Sunnis and Shiites is viewed by some observers as an unconventional civil war. Earlier this month, U.S. military leaders appeared before Congress and testified that the daily killings and bombing attacks were hampering progress and raising the specter of an all-out civil war.

The number of Iraqi civilians killed in sectarian violence or in roadside or suicide bombings was put at 3,500 in July, the highest monthly death toll since the invasion.

Issa said that whether a civil war exists is not the core issue in the United State's interests.

"It doesn't matter whether you call it a civil war or not," he said. "The overwhelming majority of people in Iraq voted for a democracy and we are supporting their vote."

Hunter said he believes that U.S. troops, which include a large number of Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton and other local bases, can begin to come home sometime in 2007.

"We are standing up the Iraqi army and when we finish that, I think we can begin to take our large military presence down very quickly," he said.

Hunter also said he believes Congress will continue to support the administration's decision on what is the best course for U.S. forces.

"While people don't like the war, they also have a sense of reality that came after 9/11 that if we don't change the world, the world is going to change us, and this is an important operation."

As of Friday, the Defense Department said 2,618 members of the U.S. military have been killed in Iraq and nearly 20,000 wounded. Slightly more than 2,000 of the deaths occurred as a direct result of combat, while others stem from accidents and other causes. Approximately 300 locally based Marines have been killed.

'Cannot be there indefinitely'

The county's two Democratic members of the House, Susan Davis and Bob Filner of San Diego, voted against the 2002 congressional resolution that gave the president authority to invade Iraq.

Neither Davis nor Filner responded to repeated calls for comment, but Davis' spokesman, Aaron Hunter, said his boss supports drawing down the level of U.S. troops as soon as possible.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., recently raised the possibility of having Congress vote on a new resolution authorizing the continued use of force in Iraq if an all-out civil war erupts.

On Friday, Connecticut Rep. Christopher Shays became the latest to break with the administration, saying that a timetable for withdrawal should be considered.

"Our troops cannot be there indefinitely," said Shays, a Republican supporter of the war who has previously argued against any timetables. He said he may himself offer a specific time frame after congressional hearings on Iraq in September.

Bilbray, who served in Congress between 1995 and 2000, then representing the 49th District that then covered much of South Bay and parts of the city of San Diego, said he would not vote to withdraw the troops unless the president supported establishment of such a timetable.

"The executive branch makes those decisions, and if you want to make them, you run for president," Bilbray said. "If we send the message that America doesn't have the stomach to fight a war, that will only bring more people into the fight."

Senators remain skeptical

California's two U.S. senators, Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, remain highly critical of administration policies in Iraq.

On a tour of the Naval Medical Center in San Diego earlier this month, Boxer said she had "never seen the military so depressed."

"I can read it in their faces, in their body language -- language that says we are in deep trouble," Boxer said.

In a meeting last week with local business and government leaders in San Diego, Feinstein called for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2007.

In an interview with the North County Times Monday, the new commander of Marine Corps forces in Iraq and the I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton said that the battle for Iraq was now a test of willpower.

Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis said he plans to go to Iraq soon to get his own firsthand assessment of the situation, but also does not favor establishing a timetable for getting out.

"If we put a timeline on it, then the enemy knows exactly what we are going to do and will wait until the deadline comes," he said. "We will stay sturdy and we will continue to fight and protect the Iraqi people no matter what is thrown in our path."

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426 or wbennett@nctimes.com. Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.