Congressman Gil Gutknecht found the situation in Iraq more bleak than he anticipated during a weekend visit to the war zone, and said a partial withdrawal of some American troops might be wise.

Gutknecht, a strong supporter of the war since it began in March of 2003, told reporters in a telephone conference call Tuesday that American forces appear to have no operational control of much of Baghdad.

“The condition there is worse than I expected,” he said. “... I have to be perfectly candid: Baghdad is a serious problem.”

The 1st District Republican said he was deeply impressed by the professionalism of American soldiers and gained hope from the more stabile situation in the Kurdish-dominated northern region of Iraq.

But he said the next six weeks could be critical in determining whether stability can eventually come to the rest of the country, and he believes removing some American troops is necessary to send the Iraqi government a message that it can’t rely so heavily on the American military much longer.

His assessment of the problems facing Iraq and the potential value of removing some American troops comes one month after Gutknecht was widely quoted during a debate in the House about the war.

“Members, now is not the time to go wobbly,” Gutknecht said on June 15. “Let’s give victory a chance.”

While Gutknecht is still not in favor of setting deadlines for the withdrawal of all American troops, he said the situation in Iraq’s largest city has clearly deteriorated.

“Baghdad is worse today than it was three years ago,” he said.

Ethnic violence between Sunni and Shiite factions in the country is escalating with gruesome attacks on civilians multiplying in recent months. An estimated 6,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in May and June — mostly by sectarian militants, according to a United Nations report. In the past two days alone, 120 died in attacks on civilian targets.

The nearly 300,000 Iraqi security forces that Bush administration officials say have been trained have shown little ability to halt the ethnic violence. A top American commander said recently that more American troops may need to be put on the streets to do the job.

Sending additional troops to Iraq would be “a terrible mistake,” Gutknecht said.

Gutknecht compared Iraq to a child learning to ride a bicycle and said America needs to be willing to let the country suffer some bruises as it attempts to take charge of its own affairs.

“I think it’s time to take off the training wheels of their bicycle,” he said.

Gutknecht was in Iraq from Saturday morning until late Sunday afternoon. His time in the country’s capital city was spent almost exclusively within the Green Zone, an area of central Baghdad that is heavily fortified and where all access is controlled by check-points.