By Caren Bohan and Tabassum Zakaria1 hour, 15 minutes ago
The security situation in Iraq is challenging and attacks could increase in coming months, a U.S. progress report said on Thursday as President George W. Bush faces rising pressure to shift course in the unpopular war.
The report also showed mixed progress by the Iraqi government in meeting goals set out by the U.S. Congress.
Bush, trying to stem crumbling support among fellow Republicans for his Iraq strategy, scheduled a 10:30 a.m. news conference likely to focus on the Iraq report.
"The security situation in Iraq remains complex and extremely challenging," said the report, which predicted that al Qaeda in Iraq would likely "increase its tempo of attacks" before the release of a broader U.S. report due in September.
The report comes as several prominent Republicans have broken ranks with Bush on Iraq to urge a shift in policy.
The Republican revolt could accelerate Democratic-led efforts to try to force Bush to start scaling back American troop levels in Iraq more than four years after a U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Drafted by White House officials with leading contributions from Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the report echoed recent comments from Bush saying it is too soon to gauge the 28,000 troop buildup he ordered six months ago.
The report gave the Iraqi government a satisfactory grade on eight of 18 goals set by Congress. It showed that on eight of the benchmarks, Baghdad's performance was unsatisfactory, and mixed on two others.
Despite the growing political pressure, Bush has been trying to buy time, urging lawmakers to hold fire until U.S. commanders and diplomats deliver a full progress report in September.
A USA Today/Gallup poll this week showed more than seven in 10 Americans favor withdrawing nearly all U.S. troops by April. Several surveys show Bush's approval ratings are at the lows of his presidency.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick