Despite more than 8,000 Iraqi police being killed, that nation's security force is improving and is on track to take over more duties by the fall, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said. That shift in responsibilities is one of the factors that will allow U.S. troops to be withdrawn, said Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, following a recent second trip to Iraq.

During the trip, the congressman was targeted by a missile as he flew in a C-130 aircraft and met with Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, a Saint Louis School alumnus who is the top American police trainer in Iraq.

A critic of the decision to go to war in Iraq, Abercrombie is co-sponsor of House Joint Resolution 55 calling on the president to announce a withdrawal timetable, with U.S. troops to begin returning home no later than Oct. 1 of this year.

Despite the fact President Bush has indicated he wants flexibility in dealing with the insurgency, and won't set deadlines for troop withdrawals, Abercrombie said Peterson's timetable for Iraqi police preparedness "fits Resolution 55 almost to the day."

"You can't expect the military, i.e., the active duty and the complementary forces of the Guard and Reserve, to do more than has been done," Abercrombie said. "Now, the politics has to take over."

Abercrombie, who is on the House Armed Services Committee, was in Iraq Jan. 10-11 with five other members of Congress on stops that included Camp Victory in Baghdad and Mosul in the north.

The bipartisan group also included U.S. Reps. Robert Simmons, R-Conn.; Jeb Bradley, R-N.H.; John Spratt, D-S.C.; Chris Chocola, R-Ind.; and Gresham Barrett, R-S.C.

Two suicide bombers killed nearly 30 people on the delegation's first day in the country, but Barrett, a staunch supporter of the president on Iraq, said that as security forces continue to stand up, the U.S. Army can disengage and move out of certain areas.

"The progress that we're making is incredible," Barrett said.

Abercrombie met with Peterson and an Iraqi lieutenant colonel who said that in 2003 morale was poor and there were equipment shortages and desertions. That's now changed.

"I quoted him (the Iraqi lieutenant colonel) specifically, 'We are now ready,' " Abercrombie said.

More than 2,000 U.S. Army military police advisers are being assigned to work side-by-side with Iraq police officers in an effort to bolster readiness, the New York Times reported.

About 80,000 local police officers across Iraq are now certified as trained and equipped, more than halfway toward the goal of 135,000 by early 2007, the newspaper said.

"This is the key to the transition to Iraqi sovereignty, in terms of the civilian capacity," Abercrombie said. For the separate Iraqi army to succeed, the police must succeed, he said.

Abercrombie has said House Republicans have refused to bring up Resolution 55 for debate and vote. The measure calls for all military operations to be turned over to the Iraqi government and the "prompt" withdrawal of all U.S. forces.

The Pentagon previously said U.S. troop levels in Iraq would fall from 160,000 to below 138,000 by March, the level before an October referendum and December election.

But Peter W. Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, in a Department of Defense news service story, noted that the president "has made it clear that we will set no artificial deadlines" for withdrawals because he wants flexibility to "do what it takes to defeat the enemy and train the Iraqis to take over responsibility."

Abercrombie doesn't believe there will be all-out civil war involving the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites with a U.S. pullout because agreements can and will be made to keep relations peaceful.

"They make deals, just like they're trying to make deals right now," he said. "These deals are going to be made whether we're there or not.

"Whether they succeed or not, that's a separate issue," he added. "But it's nothing that any troops from Waipahu or Waukegan, Ill., can solve."

Iraq remains a dangerous place — even for congressional representatives who make brief trips. Abercrombie said a missile or missiles were fired at a C-130 on which the delegation was traveling during a night flight. There was no explosion or damage to the four-engine propeller aircraft, which landed safely.

Meeting Peterson and other U.S. service members with Hawai'i ties "renewed my dedication to say, I've got to do the best job that I can on (the House Armed Services Committee) to try and see to it that they are not ill used."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.