Rep. Drake sees progress in Iraq cities torn by war

WASHINGTON

A two-day trip to Baghdad and Fallujah left her believing that "things are going remarkably well" in the U.S. effort to secure and stabilize Iraq, U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake said Tuesday.

In a telephone interview, the Norfolk Republican said she saw signs that declining levels of violence are allowing local commerce to flourish. The government in Baghdad is taking more responsibility for maintaining security, easing the burden on U.S. forces, Drake added.

The trip, as part of a five-member congressional delegation, was Drake's fourth visit to Iraq. She saw a country "markedly different" from the Iraq she found during her first trip in 2005, she said, and American troops she talked to are increasingly upbeat about the U.S. mission.

"Can something go bad? Yes. Is it still dangerous? Yes," she added later. "But the situation is real encouraging."

Drake said her delegation was able to stay overnight in Baghdad's Green Zone and move about there without wearing protective vests, two things that military escorts did not permit during her last visit.

The lawmakers' meetings included sessions with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker; Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq; and Barham Salih, a deputy Iraqi prime minister.

Salih, who is Kurdish, "was much more at ease" in discussing Iraq's political progress than she found him last year, Drake said. He offered assurances that the government is taking more responsibility for rebuilding Iraq's war-ravaged infrastructure and is spending some of the country's mushrooming oil profits to do the job, she said.

"We need to see them take more of a role," Drake added.

Her visit came as the two-term congresswoman gears up for a re-election battle with Democrat Glenn Nye, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer who spent most of 2007 in Iraq.

Nye said Tuesday that he shares Drake's view that American troops have made "tremendous strides" in securing Iraq.

But the United States is not pushing Iraqi authorities hard enough and Iraqis are not moving fast enough to take responsibility for their country's future, Nye asserted. "One of the reasons is that they think we're going to be there forever," he said.

Nye said his continuing contacts with troops and federal civilian employees still in Iraq have strengthened his conviction that "the way we get to victory is by compelling the Iraqi government to take steps to take responsibility for their own reconstruction."

Part of Nye's work in Iraq involved advising Iraqi officials on a job creation program. The Iraqis were happy to let the United States foot the bill, and for months deflected American efforts to prod them to take charge, he said.

"They would keep saying, 'Yes - tomorrow, tomorrow,' " he said, and assumed responsibility only when he convinced them the program would otherwise be terminated.

Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com