Senators reject Bush Iraq claims

Senator Harry Reid said the Iraq war was heading the wrong way

Democratic US senators have challenged President George Bush over his response to an interim report on Iraq, which found mixed progress on key US targets.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged Mr Bush to listen to the American people, saying: "The war in Iraq is headed in a dangerous direction."

Fellow Democrat Barack Obama said Mr Bush could not claim real progress.

Saying the US can and must succeed in Iraq, Mr Bush told Congress it was not its role to make military decisions.

The interim White House report, required by Congress ahead of a full report in September, says Iraq has made satisfactory progress towards meeting eight targets, but has not done so regarding another eight.

Mr Obama, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, said: "Does this White House think that we don't know how to turn on our television?

"Don't tell us it's progress when the Iraqi leadership has done nothing, nothing, to take the political steps necessary to end their civil war."

Bad precedent

The report comes during a week of fierce debate on Iraq policy in the Senate, where a major military spending bill is being discussed.

Democrats want a timetable for withdrawal or a change in the focus of the US mission from combat to counter-terrorism and the training of Iraqi forces.

Mr Bush said he valued the advice of senators, including several prominent Republicans who have recently criticised his Iraq strategy, but that lawmakers should focus on war funding, not strategy.

"I don't think Congress should be running the war," he said.

"The idea of telling our military how to conduct operations, for example, or how to deal with troop strength, I don't think it makes sense today, nor do I think it's a good precedent for the future."

Mr Reid responded: "We are told good progress is being made, wait until September. Good progress is being made - how many times over the past four-and-a-half years have we heard this?"

'Sad reality'

Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said Mr Bush was out of touch with the reality of the war in Iraq and with the American people.

He called on Republican lawmakers to have "the courage to stand up and speak up against the president's policy in Iraq".

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urged his fellow senators to review the report and wait to hear what General David Petraeus, top US commander in Iraq, and US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker have to say in September.

The report showed "many of the military tasks assigned to the military have been achieved, and that we have not seen sufficient progress on the political benchmarks", he said.

In the House of Representatives, Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "The report describes a policy badly in need of a new direction.

"The report is not a snapshot of what is happening in Iraq today, but a sad reality of what has been occurring in that country for the past few years."