Parents of fallen US troops visit northern Iraq

LOS ANGELES, Nov 5 (Reuters) Seven parents of US servicemen killed in Iraq arrived in northern Iraq on what organisers called an unprecedented visit to see what their children died for.

With public support for the war slumping in the United States, the five men and two women flew into Irbil for a seven-day visit yesterday during which they hoped to meet US troops, Iraqis and government leaders, Move America Forward said.

''No other such coordinated trip to Iraq by families of fallen troops has ever taken place,'' said the California-based group, a grass-roots, pro-troop organization founded in 2004.

''The American people are shown a skewed picture of the situation in Iraq day after day by the international news media. We felt it was time to allow the families of US troops who died in Iraq to see the progress being made in Iraq,'' said Melanie Morgan, a conservative talk radio host and chairman of Move America Forward.

There are currently no US troops based in Irbil, which is in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and one of the safer parts of the country.

Some of the parents said they hoped for closure after the deaths of their sons. Others said in statements made before they left the United States that they wanted to carry messages of support to U.S. troops.

''I want to see for myself what America has been able to accomplish to help the Iraqis help themselves,'' said John Holley, of San Diego, whose son, Matthew, 21, was killed by a roadside bomb in November 2005.

Holley said he also wanted to ''experience the same feelings that my son experienced ... sort of like walking in his shoes.'' Move America Forward said the trip had been planned for a year and was financed entirely by contributions from members and supporters.

Spokesman John Ubaldi said Irbil was relatively stable and that most of the violence in Iraq was taking place in four or five of the nation's 18 provinces.

''There are good things happening (in Iraq) but you never hear about them,'' Ubaldi told Reuters. ''These families want to see what their sons went through and the progress they know is being made.'' REUTERS PB RK0915