By Ed Tibbetts

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., returned from his first trip to Iraq saying Monday that the country needs to take more responsibility for its own future.

Hare, who spent two days in Iraq on a five-day congressional trip overseas, toured medical facilities in and near Baghdad, as well as in Kuwait and Germany.

He also met with American troops and was briefed, along with other members of the six-person delegation, by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of American troops in the country.

Hare expressed admiration for the troops and medical staff. And he said the buildup in troops, often called the surge, has had an effect.

“Militarily, on the surge, it really has tamped the violence down,” he said.

Hare voted to oppose the surge but said Monday he didn’t regret it. He said the country still hasn’t made adequate progress on the political front and added that he had been told by U.S. troops that Iraqi security forces aren’t doing enough.

“Their big concern is the Iraqis aren’t standing up and pulling their load,” Hare said in an interview.

U.S. military officials say Iraqi security forces have made progress since the surge. Also, the country’s defense minister said over the weekend he hoped its army would be self-sufficient by the middle of next year.

Hare made stops near Camp Arifjan, Kuwait; at medical facilities in Baghdad and Balad, Iraq; and at a regional medical center in Landstuhl, Germany.

The Rock Island congressman held a news conference in Moline on Monday to talk about the trip. He said that during his visit to the hospitals, he found Americans providing care not just to U.S. soldiers but also to foreign contractors and Iraqis, too.

“These are wonderfully dedicated men and women,” he said.

In one case, Hare said he spoke, through an interpreter, with an 8-year-old Iraqi boy who had been injured by a roadside explosive. The boy, while in the hospital for weeks, had injuries to his leg, abdomen and arm.

“He was fortunate not to lose a limb,” Hare said.

He said he also talked with a Ugandan who lost both legs and an arm. The man was working as a contractor in Iraq.

Hare said the man told him he wished he had been left behind because now he wouldn’t be able to support his family. Hare said while the man got care from the Americans, the Iraqis were not helping him.