IRAQ -- Governor David Paterson is visiting Iraq as part of a congressional trip to visit troops during the holiday season.

Governor Paterson and Congressmen Steve Israel of Long Island and Anthony Weiner of Queens spent Sunday with the troops in Baghdad. They were joined by congressmen from Oklahoma and Kentucky. The group then had dinner with New Yorkers from an Army National Guard aviation battalion.

In a satellite conference, the governor said he's optimistic that the situation in Iraq will continue to improve for our troops.

Paterson said he's overwhelmed by the camaraderie of the U.S. troops he's met on his first visit to Iraq.

"They seem to be very upbeat," he said. "A lot of them are coming home shortly, and they're very excited about that. Some of them have done three tours here so their service is more than complete. They were asking a lot about some of the sports teams and five or six of them asked me who the new senator is."

Though Paterson has been critical of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, he expressed support for the president, saying he trusted Bush and his cabinet to make the right decisions.

As of last month, there were more than 10,000 New Yorkers serving in either active duty military, national guard or reserves in Iraq and Kuwait.