John Mulligan at the Projo provides an article on Whitehouse’s trip to Iraq:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse returned from a weekend visit to Iraq yesterday with what he described as a sense of optimism that “at its heart, the mission has really fundamentally changed� toward handing off military duties as rapidly as possible to Iraqi forces so that American troops can begin to withdraw.

But that optimism was leavened by uncertainty about whether President Bush’s new strategy to improve security in Baghdad will attain long-lasting results, the Rhode Island Democrat said in an interview yesterday. He said he also came back with continuing concerns about whether Iraq’s government is doing enough to secure the political gains needed to withstand the insurgency.

Whitehouse said he believes the message of last fall’s congressional elections has helped to turn U.S. forces and even some dissident Iraqi groups toward policies that could strengthen the Iraqi government in its struggle against a violent insurgency. [full text]

Whitehouse went to Iraq with a group that included John Sununu, (R-NH) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). According to the article, Sununu and Murkowski have been stressing to the media that security seems to have improved in Iraq since Bush’s “surge” strategy began. Whitehouse appears to agree with this sentiment:

In media interviews from Iraq during the weekend, Republicans Sununu and Murkowski both stressed the recent reports of a reduction in the number of violent attacks since the U.S. security crackdown began several weeks ago. Sununu told New Hampshire reporters Saturday that the security situation in Baghdad appears to have improved during the weeks since Mr. Bush launched the new strategy often referred to as the “surge,� because it includes an influx of between 20,000 and 30,000 U.S. troops by summer and a renewed focus on stabilizing the capital city.

Whitehouse said yesterday that he shared with other members of the delegation a sense that there have been modest security improvements in Baghdad. But he said it’s too early to tell whether they will be durable or whether insurgents will simply go outside Baghdad to sow devastation in areas beyond the reach of the beefed up U.S. and Iraqi forces.

A day after the four-year anniversary of our war in Iraq, it is so hard to know what to make of this renewed sense of confidence/hope that things are turning around and we’ll be done soon. Matt Jerzyk put it fairly simply yesterday in a post entitled “Let’s End This War.” Perhaps if the “surge” has strong goals of promoting diplomacy, this can work. But in the article, Whitehouse sounded decidedly less optimistic about whether local Iraqi governments would be able to draw up treaties and divide resources equitably.