Congressman compares Iraq, Detroit

DETROIT, March 22 (UPI) -- Democrats say a Republican congressman from Michigan "embarrassed and misrepresented" his state's largest city when he compared Iraq and Detroit.

The Battle Creek Enquirer reports that U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg has been targeted by a Democratic organization.

"To compare our largest city to Iraq, a country currently in the middle of a bloody civil war where thousands of our troops and tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, many by beheading and torture, is unconscionable," said Mark Brewer, head of the state Democratic Committee.

Walberg, in an interview Thursday with a Detroit radio station, said his remarks had emphasized that most of Iraq is safe. He told Frank Beckmann of WJR-AM that injured soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington tell him that 80 to 85 percent of the country is doing well.

"In any major city there are some hot zones as in the country of Iraq," Walberg said, acknowledging that Anbar Province and Sadr City in Baghdad are torn by conflict.