Washington - The Iraqi assault against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra and parts of Baghdad shows the government is strengthening its ability to establish security, President George W Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Wednesday. "In some sense, this is an indication of the continued maturation of this government in its willingness and capacity to take increasing responsibility for security," Hadley told reporters.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched the assault this week to bring order to Basra, which had fallen toward chaos and come under the increasing control of Shiite militants.
"What he's really done is take that matter into his hands, go down to Basra and to assert the authority of the central government, but more to the point, the authority for the rule of law in Basra," Hadley said.
Al-Maliki has given the militants three days to surrender their weapons.
Bush has pegged any withdrawals of US troops to progress made by the Iraqis in developing their own forces capable of maintaining security in Iraq.
Bush met with the top military brass in the Pentagon Wednesday to discuss the situation in Iraq, but has signalled there may not be additional withdrawals this year. Bush ordered 30,000 more troops into Iraq last year to quell a surge in violence. A few thousand were taken out earlier this year.
