Bush: Congress is too hard on Iraqi leaders

Iraqi security forces are battling Shiite militias in southern Iraq.

DAYTON (AP) — President Bush said Thursday that congressional critics have bullied Iraq’s leaders and ignored political progress achieved at the cost of U.S. lives.

He also praised Iraq’s prime minister for making what Bush said was a decisive move to take on Shiite militias despite violent resistance and mounting protests.

Bush’s latest defense of the war took aim at a principal frustration in Democratic-run Congress that Iraq’s politicians have squandered time while U.S. troops are dying.

“Some members of Congress decided the best way to encourage progress in Baghdad was to criticize and threaten Iraq’s leaders while they’re trying to work out their differences,” Bush told a military audience at the cavernous U.S. Air Force museum.

“But hectoring was not what the Iraqi leaders needed,” Bush said. “What they needed was security and that is what the ‘surge’ has provided.”

That was a reference to the 30,000-troop reinforcement Bush ordered to Iraq last year. The step was intended to halt violence so Iraq’s leaders could start managing their own affairs.

Bush spoke as Iraqi security forces clashed with Shiite militias in Basra, Iraq’s southern oil hub. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pledged to fight “until the end” against militias tied to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, despite fierce resistance.

“Prime Minister Maliki’s bold decision — and it was a bold decision — to go after the illegal groups in Basra shows his leadership,” Bush said. The United States sees al-Maliki’s action as a turning point in showing that Iraq is taking on more responsibility.

“There’s a strong commitment by the central government of Iraq to say that no one is above the law,” Bush said, even as he warned of more violence as the operation unfolded.

The slow pace of political reconciliation among Iraq’s sectarian groups and the plodding passage of basic laws have undermined public support in the U.S. for the war.

“The president asserts that real progress has been made in Iraq. But if that were truly the case, our troops would be coming home soon,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Bush said Iraq has made remarkable, albeit unglamorous, progress in recent months.

He cited laws to set up provincial elections in October, put a budget in place, allow thousands of former members of Saddam Hussein’s ruling Baath party to return to government jobs, and grant limited amnesty to prisoners held in Iraqi custody.

More broadly, Bush gave a portrait of a country enjoying a rebound in civic and cultural life. Democratic leaders in Congress say Bush is painting a far too rosy picture.

Even some of Bush’s military leaders have expressed frustration about the pace of political stability, which is what could help more U.S. troops get home.

Some Democratic lawmakers say pulling troops home will give Iraq’s leaders incentive to act and free up a strained military to take on other battles.

Bush called that senseless. He said America has no more strategic interest than Iraq, which he called the “convergence point for the twin threats of al-Qaida and Iran.”

Reid said Bush is poised to keep as many troops in Iraq by year’s end as there were before last year’s increase.