Congressman Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Mount Vernon says he’s disappointed in what he heard from the top commander of U.S. troops in Iraq. Loebsack says there’s been some progress on the ground as far as security with the surge in troops, but Loebsack says the problem has been political reconciliation. He says that reconciliation hasn’t happened to the extent those who argued for the surge said it would.
Loebsack says he still believes we need a new commitment to Afghanistan. He says he supports the troops wherever they are but, "We’re less safe as a result of our continued presence in Iraq, and Afghanistan is really where the real threat is."
Loebsack is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and heard testimony Wednesday from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on military operations and political conditions in Iraq.