Proclaiming that "democracy is on the march" in the Middle East, U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett foresees a reduction of American troops by the end of the year.

Bennett, R-Utah, said that since the January elections, the involvement of the Iraqi people in the security and rebuilding of their country has vastly improved. In many ways, the elections had a two-pronged effect on the country because it energized the country's citizens and has taken much of the steam out of the insurgency.

Bennett and a half-dozen other senators completed an eight-day trip through the Middle East earlier this week, visiting Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Ukraine and Georgia. It is similar to a trip he made last summer to the Middle East, although the situations have changed, especially in Iraq and Palestine.

In Iraq, security control by Iraqi officers instead of American troops "has accelerated in the last 60 days" to a point where the country can become more internally stable and less dependent on American forces, he said. "I would not be surprised to see some sort of troop drawdown this year."

In Palestine, the death of Yasser Arafat has actually helped push democracy forward, and the emerging leadership is more cooperative with the Israeli government's attempts to reduce terrorism. While he said that much of the growth of democracy needs to be credited to the citizens of those areas, an American presence was important.

"It would be preposterous to say that it is solely because of American involvement," he said. "But there is a sense that if it had not been for the American support, this would not have taken place."

Bennett traveled to the Mideast with Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; and Ken Salazar, D-Colo. During a conference call from Tbilisi, Georgia, with Nevada media prior to returning, Reid said that the situation in Iraq is still a mess but improving.

"The place is devastated," the Senate minority leader said. "It's going to take years to reconstruct Iraq."

Reid also said that troops in Iraq continued to complain of insufficient armor for their vehicles and other problems. For the most part, however, "there was not a lot of whining."

Reid also encouraged President Bush to focus on areas such as security and political stability in Iraq. Overall, he said that people within the country were more optimistic about the reconstruction efforts.

"I think there's a general feeling that people feel really good about what's going on," he said.

---

E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com