By Maureen Groppe
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - Before Indiana Rep. Baron Hill traveled to Iraq last weekend to look at military and reconstruction efforts, he said he believed U.S. success there was nearly impossible.

"Being there and seeing what I've seen," the Seymour Democrat said Monday, "I've gone from 'almost impossible' to maybe."'

Hill was among the more than one-third of House Democrats who last year voted to authorize the use of force against Iraq. He also "reluctantly" voted last week to spend nearly $87 billion for continued military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hill was most encouraged by the sense he got that Iraqis like America and appreciate the removal of Saddam Hussein.

Hill acknowledged that his interactions with Iraqis were limited. They included an arranged visit to a school and hospital. But he was impressed that in the school, students from two different branches of Islam were being taught together despite the deep divide between them. And when he waved to Iraqi adults he passed as his escorted convoy drove through the streets, Hill said Iraqis smiled and waved back.

Hill, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, was one of nine lawmakers on the weekend trip. He is the third member of the Indiana delegation to visit Iraq since major fighting ended.

When Indiana Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Bristol, traveled there in August, he said he found a more positive situation than the image he had seen in news accounts.

Hill said he expects one reason he was asked to be part of this trip was to help spread the word that progress is being made. Hill said he did see progress, particularly in reconstruction, but still does not believe the United States has a plan for stopping the continued violence.

More than 100 U.S. soldiers have been killed by hostile acts in Iraq since May 1, when Bush declared major hostilities over. That includes two soldiers killed when their patrol was ambushed over the weekend while Hill and other lawmakers were on their visit. Hill said one Indiana soldier he visited with told him, "I'm willing to fight them, Baron, but how long is this going to go on?"

"And he's right to question it," Hill said. "It's not going to be easy, and the American people need to know that."