Another Democrat Congressman visits Iraq, changes tune

The Des Moines Register reports:

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Dave Loebsack returned Monday from a trip to Iraq and said that conditions in once-violent Anbar province have improved since the Iowa Democrat’s last trip there earlier this year.

“Certainly, in Anbar province, there’s no doubt some progress has been made,” said Loebsack, an opponent of the war. The question is how much, and how much political progress has been made, as well, he said.

“The military has done a fantastic job, as always,” he said. Loebsack met with members of the Iowa Army National Guard’s 833rd Engineer Company, based in Ottumwa, and other Iowans serving in Iraq.

Leaders of the Marines have said recently that they have been successful in suppressing insurgents in Anbar, though violence continues in other regions. Reuters news service reported that the Interior Ministry says violence in Iraq has dropped 70 percent since the end of June, when U.S. troops finished a buildup.

Loebsack, of Mount Vernon, was the leader of a five-member, bipartisan congressional delegation that spent two days over the weekend in Iraq and another half-day or so at the main military hospital in Germany, reviewing emergency care for troops.

Loebsack has repeatedly voted in favor of a timetable for withdrawal. He said his goal always has been that troops should be out within a year of a decision to leave, but he said he now believes that may be too short a time. “That may or may not be possible,” he said. “It may very well take more than a year, if necessary.”

Watch for the Nutroots targeting to commence, very soon (just like they did with US Rep. Brian Baird).