Four Republican members of Congress who recently returned from Iraq say the morale of U.S. soldiers is high and that the ongoing process of training Iraqis to defend their own country is the correct long-term solution to the current security problems there.

Congressmen Edward Royce of California, Peter King of New York, Steve Chabot of Ohio, and Max Burns of Georgia spoke with media representatives at the Pentagon November 4 after a breakfast meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior Defense Department officials. The four were part of a congressional delegation -- comprised primarily of members of the House International Relations Committee -- that returned from Iraq on October 28. The delegation also included Thomas Lantos (Republican, California), although he did not attend the media availability.

King described the moral and dedication of U.S. troops in Iraq as "outstanding," adding that "these are going to be tough times coming up in Iraq, but I have no doubt that the American military is going to be able to overcome whatever those difficulties are. I think it's very important that we do accelerate the training of the Iraqi police, the Iraqi troops, working with them."

Chabot agreed, saying, "I think we're making considerable progress, ... although we clearly have security issues which will be dealt with. And I think ultimately the answer is in training the Iraqis to defend their own country. That has to be the long-term goal."

Burns was emphatic in his assessment of the situation in Iraq: "I'm convinced that we're in the right mode and the right position, we're doing the right thing. I think the delegation had one consensus position, and that was [that] failure is not an option; that we must persevere. We must make sure that this is a stable and a democratic state in the Middle East."

He said U.S. troops "are doing the job because they believe that this is essential for peace and stability, not only in that area of the Middle East but indeed throughout the world."

Asked about steps to be taken in the short term, Royce said the Syrian and Iranian borders "are very porous" and stressed that those states "could be doing a much better job ... helping to seal those borders." He indicated that additional technologies are being studied to help in this regard.

Asked whether his constituents were expressing concern about the number of U.S. casualties in Iraq, Burns said, "Certainly I have constituents who are concerned. I share their concern. But I also have the vast majority of my constituents who believe that we must stay this course and persevere and ensure that Iraq is a free and a democratic environment." Chabot, replying to the same question, said, "[T]here's a determination by the overwhelming number of people that bring this issue to my attention that they realize how important it is that we prevail in this effort that we're now engaged in. ... We keep hearing that phrase that defeat is not an option, and I think that's absolutely true."