Rehberg: Surge is working in Iraq - He could tell from his helicopter ride to the Green Zone

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/24/news/mtregional/news09.txt

Rehberg: Surge is working in Iraq
By JENNIFER McKEE Missoulian State Bureau

HELENA - Fresh from a brief tour of Iraq, Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg told Montana reporters Wednesday that the beefed-up presence of American troops in the country has worked to restore order.

“I would be so bold as to say the surge has worked,” Rehberg said in a conference call arranged from his Washington, D.C., office. “There has been a marked improvement.”

Rehberg, who has visited the country three times since the United States invaded in 2003, said the last time he was in Iraq in November 2005 there were few crops in the fields, irrigation ditches were empty, and the collapsed economy and dangerous situation on the ground left many with little to do.

Rehberg visited the country again over the weekend and said that even as his helicopter swooped into the protected Green Zone, he could see the country had improved. The ditches were flowing, Rehberg said, fields were green and commerce was evident in the streets.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Does that mean he wasn't shot down?