Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell is in the Middle East visiting troops on active duty. The democratic representative says he visited with Iowa troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Boswell says morale is high and the soldiers “fully engaged” but they want to get the job done, and then come home. Boswell’s delegation made its first stop at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and was there when the news arrived that U-S troops had captured Saddam Hussein.He says Sunday he was visiting with an Iowa soldier at the hospital there when news came on the TV that Saddam had been taken, and after a bit of doubt they heard from an Air Force general that it was confirmed. When he went on to Afghanistan they were also “pretty pumped up,” saying if they could catch Osama bin Laden, they’ll have made major steps. The delegation went from Afghanistan to Kuwait and then to the front in Iraq. He had supper in the mess hall with a table of Iowa soldiers, and gave them Christmas cards grade-school kids back home had made for the soldiers, which he says made them very happy. The delegation’s not allowed to spend the night at the front, so after returning to Kuwait, Boswell says he’ll have one more day to visit troops before heading home to the U.S.
