Lugar to visit Iraq next week

FORT WAYNE -- Sen. Dick Lugar, who has criticized the Bush administration's lack of planning for postwar Iraq, will visit Baghdad on June 23 for a firsthand look at reconstruction efforts.\nLugar, R-Ind., has warned that the successes or failures in rebuilding Iraq will have ramifications for years to come.\n"Nations throughout the Middle East, including regimes that have supported terrorists, are assessing how U.S. and coalition reconstruction of Iraq will affect their own interests," Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a Senate hearing last week.\nBefore visiting Iraq, Lugar will spend two days in Jordan to take part in the World Economic Forum.\nHe will then accompany Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., to Iraq for a trip that will include a meeting with Paul Bremer, head of the U.S. rebuilding effort in Iraq.\nBremer told Pentagon reporters last week that there is no way to know how long the United States will have to remain involved in Iraq's reconstruction. He said the key is getting to the point where a new Iraqi constitution is written and ratified and national elections are held.\nLugar has said that American troops may need to remain in Iraq for about five years to provide stability that could influence positive change in other Middle Eastern nations.\n"An American presence in Iraq that is devoted to achieving democracy and a healthy economy puts enormous pressure on states in the region to undertake reform," he said.