The top United States military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus said in his report to Congress that some troops can be withdrawn from Iraq until the level prior to this spring’s surge is reached.

General Petraeus said this partial pullout of the additional troops sent to Iraq since February can be completed by next summer. In January, US President George W Bush said the surge is aimed at quelling the flare up of sectarian violence.

“The military objectives of the surge are in large measure being met,” the General said.

Approximately 160,000 servicemen were deployed to Iraq since the campaign was initiated four years ago. In January this year, about US 130,000 troopers were present in Iraq and Bush ordered the expansion of forces after an outbreak of violence across the conflict-torn country was reported.

Continuing with his analysis, Petraeus said al-Qaeda received “significant blows” from US and Iraqi forces and as a first consequence, attacks against security forces have registered a significant drop in the past weeks.

“Though al-Qaeda and its affiliates remain dangerous, we have taken away a number of their sanctuaries and gained the initiative in many areas,” he said.

Future debates on the Iraq war will certainly have this report as core, Democrats from Congress already demanding Bush to accept a timetable for the withdrawal. In first instance, the report elaborated by Petraeus and US ambassador in Iraq Ryan Crocker is presented before the House military and foreign policy committees.

Even so, Democratic members of Congress maintained their reluctance towards the campaign’s success, saying the Iraqi government wasn’t able to mediate a reconciliation between political and religious factions.

”No one can make the case the that Iraqi government has made great strides,” Ike Skelton, one of the chairmen presiding over the hearings said before Petraeus began his testimony.

“Prime Minister Maliki and the Iraqi politicians need to know that the free ride is over and that American troops will not be party to their civil war,” the other chairman, Tom Lantos added.

Regarding divergences between ethnic groups, Petraeus said progress has been made and gave the Anbar province’s example, where Sunni leaders made a pact with US troops to combat al-Qaeda actions.

“Based on all this, and on the further progress we believe we can achieve over the next few months, I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level of brigade combat teams by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains that we have fought so hard to achieve,” the General said.

As a first action, two unites sent to Iraq this year will return to the US by Decembers, Petraeus said. Also, four brigades and two Marine battalions are due to leave Iraq by July 2008, a last measure that would decrease the number of troops to the one registered prior to this year’s surge.

The hearing wasn’t dodged by incidents, a woman being forcibly removed from the room along with several other people who wanted to express their discontent while Petraeus presented his assessment.

Petraeus was previously accused of serving Bush’s policy and not the national interest. He was criticized for not speaking truthfully and letting his judgment be influenced by White House officials.

Entire newspaper pages were filled with accusations directed at the commander nicknamed “General Betray-US” in an advertisement published in the New York Times on Monday.

Members of the Republican party lashed out at Democrats for tarnishing Petraeus’ credibility.

“I think it's an outrage that we spent the last week prepping the ground, bashing the credibility of a general officer whose trademark is integrity,” Duncan Hunter, the ranking Republican member on the House Armed Services Committee, said.

Amid heavy accusations targeting Petraeus and Bush, White House spokesman Tony Snow stressed Monday that both Petraeus and Crocker elaborated the report based on their own knowledge and judgment, without any intervention from President Bush.

During his testimony, Ambassador Crocker admitted that Iraqis have become weary of political turmoil.

“The American people are frustrated. I am frustrated every day I spend in Iraq on the lack of progress on legislative initiatives. Iraqis themselves are frustrated,” Crocker said.

The diplomat said the Iraqi government, controlled by Shiites, took the first steps towards reconciliation with Sunni blocs, but the process remains sluggish and laws continue to be passed very hard.

The Iraqi government made another step towards settling the dispute with political and religious factions by offering retirement payments or jobs to the Sunni soldiers dismissed from the army four years ago when the US was in charge of Iraq’s administration.

Democrats have criticized Premier Nuri al-Maliki’s government for failing to bring stability in the strife-torn country and being unable to settle internal feuds which threaten to move into the streets once again.

Even so, Crocker said US lawmakers should give the Baghdad government a little more time to regain the strength lost during Saddam Hussein’s rule. After decades of dictatorship, state institutions and structures have to be reconstructed from “scratch,” he added.

“This process will not be quick. It will be uneven (and) punctuated by setbacks as well as achievements,” said the diplomat who also served as US ambassador to Pakistan in 2006 and Lebanon in 1990.