Rep. Michele Bachmann, returning from a trip to Iraq, said Americans need to give President Bush's surge of troops in Iraq a chance to succeed.
The comments by Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, come as some fellow Republicans in Congress have turned against Bush's strategy and called for a reduction of the military's role in Iraq.
Bachmann said the surge "hasn't had a chance to really be in place long enough to offer a critique."
Bachmann was one of six U.S. House members to travel to Iraq, following stops in Ireland, Germany, Pakistan and Kuwait. While in Baghdad, they met with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus, among others.
Bachmann said Petraeus promised the group he will give a straight answer about whether the surge is working when he reports to Congress in September.
"That was heartening to hear, because that's what we need, is the truth," Bachmann said. "I felt very confident in General Petraeus, what he's doing, and also in the ambassador, in the important work that he is doing."
"The one thing I see is that al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up," she added. "General Petraeus said that al-Qaida in Iraq is off plan, and we want to keep it that way. That's a good thing."
Trouble seemed to follow the bipartisan congressional delegation, which was led by Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif. While meeting with Crocker, a recorded message was played several times warning people to stay away from windows because rockets had been fired into the compound. Earlier, while in Pakistan, the lawmakers traveled in bulletproof vans, and were kept at their hotel or the U.S. embassy, as a battle raged over the Red Mosque in the nation's capital, Islamabad.
"It was very tense," Bachmann said. "We heard shooting from the hotel."
The trip by Bachmann, a freshman, was her first to the Middle East.
Earlier this year, she caused a stir by saying Iran had a plan to partition Iraq and turn half of the country into a "terrorist haven." She later clarified that by saying she meant that Iran and other enemies of the U.S. want a divided Iraq but that she knew of no actual plan.
By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
