(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-10 23:45

Limited political progress

The "surge" of extra forces in the last year helped bring down unprecedented levels of violence throughout Iraq.

But Bush's critics complain the Iraqis themselves have failed to take advantage of that relative lull to make progress toward greater political and security stability that would allow further US troop cuts.

With news of a suspension of withdrawals and renewed violence in which 20 US personnel have died in the first week of April, the war has again emerged as a major issue in the campaign for the November presidential elections.

Bush met Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, over breakfast at the White House and is due to make the Iraq statement at 11:30 a.m. (1530 GMT) before leaving for a long weekend at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Petraeus and Crocker painted a somber picture of the situation in Iraq in testimony to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday, which Democrats said gave no sign of an exit strategy after five years of war.

The United States has 160,000 troops in Iraq after boosting the force last year in a bid to reduce violence enough to allow Iraqi lawmakers to enact measures seen as critical to long-term stability.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,000 US troops have died since the 2003 US-led invasion.

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