Washington - The United States could reverse its 30,000- strong troop buildup in Iraq by next summer, the top US commander said Monday, citing security gains since the start of this year. In a highly anticipated report to Congress, General David Petraeus proposedthat the troop surge, ordered by President George W Bush to quell sectarian violence in Iraq, could end by mid-July 2008.
"The military objectives of the surge are in large measure being met," Petraeus told a hearing in the US House of Representatives. A "premature" force reduction could be "devastating," he said.
Bush in January announced a boost in US troop strength from about 130,000 to more than 160,000. He has urged Americans to give the surge time to work and has portrayed Petraeus' report as crucial to the future US course in Iraq.
The general's two days of testimony will shape the debate on the unpopular war amid growing calls from Democratic members of Congress to begin troop withdrawals.
Petraeus said US and Iraqi forces have "dealt significant blows" to al-Qaeda operations in Iraq and violent attacks in the last two weeks have dropped to the lowest in more than a year.
"Though al-Qaeda and its affiliates remain dangerous, we have taken away a number of their sanctuaries and gained the initiative in many areas," he said.
Petraeus and the US ambassador in Iraq, Ryan Crocker, appeared before the House military and foreign policy committees as part of a congressionally-mandated report. Petraeus will submit his assessment to the White House later this week.
The two Democratic chairmen presiding over the hearing, Representatives Ike Skelton and Tom Lantos, were sceptical that Iraq can be turned around with a government that has made little progress toward reconciling differences between Iraqi ethnic and religious groups.
"Prime Minister Maliki and the Iraqi politicians need to know that the free ride is over and that American troops will not be party to their civil war," Lantos said.
Crocker, a seasoned diplomat who has headed the Baghdad embassy since March, acknowledged that progress is slow.
"The American people are frustrated. I am frustrated every day I spend in Iraq on the lack of progress on legislative initiatives. Iraqis themselves are frustrated," he told the hearing.
Still, Petraeus said Iraqi forces were increasingly providing for the country's security and cited dramatic progress in Anbar province, where local Sunni leaders have allied with US forces in combatting al-Qaeda.
Violent deaths among Iraqi civilians have fallen by more than 45 per cent since the peak of sectarian violence in December 2006, and ethnic killings are down by more than 55 per cent, he said.
"Based on all this, and on the further progress we believe we can achieve over the next few months, I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level of brigade combat teams by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains that we have fought so hard to achieve," Petraeus said.
Two units deployed as part of the surge are slated to leave Iraq by December, while four other brigades and two Marine battalions could leave by July 2008, bringing forces back to pre-surge levels, he said.
Iran, which the US accuses of providing weapons and training to militants who attack US troops, remains a disruptive force in Iraq despite limited US-Iranian talks this year, both men said.
"I haven't seen any sign of earnest or seriousness on the Iranian side," Crocker said.
Skelton had several protesters ejected from the hearing. One of them screeched as she was hustled out; another held up a sign, "When generals lie, soldiers die."
Petraeus emphasized that his testimony was based on his own judgement and was not cleared by the White House. In the week before his testimony, Petraeus was greeted in Washington by charges that he would announce conclusions to serve Bush's political needs.
MoveOn.org, a left-wing group, ran a full-page advertisement in the New York Times accusing him of betraying the American people by not speaking truthfully about the conflict, making a play on his name, "General Betray-US."
Republicans criticized the organization and Democrats for questioning Petraeus' integrity.
"I think it's an outrage that we spent the last week prepping the ground, bashing the credibility of a general officer whose trademark is integrity," Representative Duncan Hunter, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said.
Crocker told lawmakers that the Shiite-controlled Iraqi government has taken steps to reconcile differences with their Sunni rivals even though it has yet to pass legislation aimed at assisting the process.
The government has reached out to Sunni soldiers who were expelled from the military during the US administration of Iraq after the March 2003 invasion by offering retirement benefits or civilian jobs.
Political progress by the Iraqi government is seen as crucial if violence is to be reduced, and Democratic lawmakers have charged that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has failed to take adequate steps.
Crocker cautioned lawmakers to be more patient as the Iraqi government seeks to tackle difficult challenges, emphasizing that decades of rule by Saddam Hussein meant Iraq had to be rebuilt from "scratch."
"This process will not be quick. It will be uneven (and) punctuated by setbacks as well as achievements," Crocker said.
White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters Monday the report by Petraeus and Crocker was independent and had not been vetted by Bush, who is expected to address the nation this week to discuss Petraeus' findings.
