Partisan US duel on Iraq heats up

By Nick Childs
World affairs correspondent, BBC News

The US House has linked Iraq funding to a pullout timetable

The current battle of wills in the United States over Iraq policy is reaching a predictable climax.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has narrowly passed a bill setting goals for a US pullout and the Senate is expected to follow suit.

With President George W Bush set to veto the bill - probably early next week - the level of partisan recrimination is rising to a new level of intensity.

The stakes are high, but so too are the political pressures on both sides of the US political debate.

Suicide bombings

The Democrats know they cannot overcome the presidential veto.

But the pressures on the White House will continue to mount so long as there are no clear-cut signs of progress with its latest Iraq security plan.

Gen David Petraeus' assessment on progress has been mixed

On that front, the top US commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has been able to offer only a mixed assessment in briefings in Washington, and essentially to issue a call for patience.

He says he sees signs of progress in the reduction in sectarian murders in Iraq, and strikingly, what he calls "breathtaking" security progress in the deeply-troubled Anbar province.

However, he acknowledged the increase in spectacular suicide bombings as a setback.

What impact the political debate in Washington will have on the ground is uncertain - and Gen Petraeus was cautious when asked about it, suggesting it is a potential double-edged sword.

Some analysts argue that it might concentrate the minds of the Iraqi political leadership.

There are again signs of growing US impatience with Iraq's leaders. But they face their own pressures and frustrations.

And Gen Petraeus acknowledged those - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is not UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the general argued, with a comfortable parliamentary power base.