Norfolk's Rep. Nye says Iraq security is improving

WASHINGTON

Just back from a six-day trip to Iraq and three other Middle East nations, U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Norfolk, said Tuesday that U.S. and Iraqi forces "are moving in the right direction" to implement President Barack Obama's commitment to withdraw most American troops within 16 months.

Nye, a former State Department employee elected in November, said Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, told him and other lawmakers that planning is proceeding to draw down forces responsibly.

Nye said the trip, which included meetings with top Iraqi officials and U.S. troops in a village northwest of Baghdad, convinced him that "the security situation has improved very significantly," since he worked in Iraq as a foreign service officer in 2007.

Nye said, "There are still some areas that are tough," but it would have been much more dangerous for him to have visited the village during his stint in the foreign service. The area includes substantial groups of Shiite and Sunni Muslims, but Nye said he believes the factions have "a very good chance" of putting aside their differences.

Nye's seven-member delegation, led by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash, was the first group of congressmen to visit Iraq since Obama took office. They were in Iraq on Sunday, the day after elections for regional council representatives in 14 of the country's 18 provinces.

"The good news is the election went well," Nye said. In areas the lawmakers visited, Iraqi troops and police had been able to provide most of the security for polling places, he added. That job had fallen largely to U.S. forces in past elections.

The delegation also visited Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Nye said they conferred with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu about tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and discussed Syria's alleged involvement in terrorist activities with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Americans told Assad that "we expect him to do more" to assist U.S. counterterrorism efforts, Nye said. He was noncommittal on the Syrian leader's response, saying "this is just the beginning of a process."

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