DAYTON, Ohio (AFP) — President George W. Bush said Thursday he saw signs of progress in Iraq despite an upswing of violence, but warned that security advances would be threatened by a quick drawdown of US troops.
Bush also praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's "bold decision" to launch an offensive against Shiite militia members in the southern port city of Basra.
Bush's speech came ahead of a key decision on whether or not to maintain the increased number of US troops in Iraq -- the "surge" of 30,000 US troops he ordered in January 2007 -- beyond July.
At least 105 people have died countrywide in clashes since Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on "lawless gangs" in Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the toll at double that.
The military operations have been mostly in areas controlled by the Mahdi Army fighters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, severely straining a "freeze" he ordered of the militia's activities last August.
Maliki's crackdown on Shiite militias in Iraq "shows his leadership and his commitment to enforce the law in an even-handed manner," Bush said.
"It also shows the progress the Iraqi security forces have made during the surge. Iraqi forces planned this operation and they deployed substantial extra forces for it. They're leading the operation."
It will "take some time" for Iraqi forces to crush Shiite militias, Bush said, but expressed confidence that they would ultimately prevail.
"This operation is going to take some time to complete," Bush said, adding that ultimately "terrorists and extremists in Iraq will know they have no place in a free and democratic society."
The US leader also insisted that "normalcy is returning to Iraq."
As he considers whether to begin a military drawdown, Bush said that he will "always remember that the progress in Iraq is real, it is substantive, but it is reversible."
Bush delivered his speech between two fighter jets in one of the vast hangers of the national museum of the US air force in Dayton.
The US president announced in September that five US military brigades would be withdrawn by July 2008. The US military presence should then drop from the current 158,000 to around 140,000 in the last months of Bush's presidency.
According to the White House, Bush will make his decision public after General David Petraeus, the commander of US-led forces in Iraq, and US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, testify on Iraq on Capitol Hill on April 8 and 9.
In his speech Bush spoke of a "rebirth of Iraqi civil society," and quoted General Raymond Odierno, who until recently was the number two US military officer in Iraq.
"He said he flew over Baghdad 15 months ago and he couldn't see a single soccer game. On his final flight last month, he counted more than 180," Bush said.
"It is a sign normalcy is returning back to Iraq," he said.
While Iraqis still have plenty to do improve both security and the country's economy, one year after the "surge" of forces, "almost every key economic indicator has turned around."
"The reality is that retreating from Iraq would carry enormous strategic costs for the United States," Bush said.
Bush also used the speech to tell Iran and Syria that they must "stop supporting violence and terror" in Iraq, and that Iraq's other neighbors need to do more to bring peace to the country.
Bush accused Tehran of arming, training and financing Shiite militias currently engaged in fights with Iraq's regular army.
He also called on other countries in the area to help restore peace to Iraq.
"Iraq's neighbors can do more. And we're constantly sending out diplomatic missions to encourage them to do more," Bush said.
And the US president also called on the Iraqi government to shoulder the full financial burden of its security forces "soon."
"Now Iraq's budget covers three-quarters of the cost of its security forces, which is a total of more than nine billion dollars in 2008, and soon Iraq should and we expect them to shoulder the full burden of their security forces," Bush said.
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