Iraq chief expects favorable US report

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister said yesterday he expects the US ambassador and military commander to give his government favorable marks when they report to Congress next week, and predicted passage of a law soon that could return more Sunnis to government jobs.

To the south, Basra was reported calm after British soldiers abandoned their last outpost there, leaving the country's second-largest city largely in the hands of Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.

Also yesterday, the US command said an American soldier was killed and three others were injured when a roadside bomb blew up next to their patrol on Sunday outside of Baghdad. No further details were released.

The latest casualties occurred a week before US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus are to report to Congress on political and security progress since President Bush ordered about 30,000 additional troops to Iraq early this year.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters yesterday that his government was making progress toward national reconciliation and that Crocker and Petraeus "are witnessing this progress."

"I expect that the positive developments will be, for sure, reflected in the report to Congress on Sept. 15," Maliki said.

The prime minister spoke before leaving for al-Asad Air Base to confer with Bush, who flew to the remote air base for a firsthand assessment of the war before the coming debate over the US troop buildup.

Maliki said his critics have overlooked the achievements of his government, including a reduction "to a large extent" in sectarian reprisal killings.

At least 35 people were killed or found dead across the country yesterday, including five people who died in a pair of car bombings in the Iraqi capital.

The Shi'ite prime minister also said that a long-awaited draft law to ease the ban on former Saddam Hussein loyalists serving in government jobs has been completed and "I believe that the Parliament will approve it."

Approval could allow thousands of Sunni Arabs to regain their jobs or receive government pensions, and is among the 18 benchmarks set down by Congress as a condition for US support.

In Basra, Iraqi soldiers hoisted the nation's flag over the Basra palace yesterday after 550 British troops pulled out of the compound the night before. They joined about 5,000 other British soldiers at the airport 12 miles north of town.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said the move was planned for months and that British troops would be available to help Iraqi forces "in certain circumstances."

"This is essentially a move from where we were in a combat role in four provinces, and now we are moving over time to being in an overwatch role," Brown told the British Broadcasting Corporation.

US officials have been concerned about the prospect of British troops handing over control of a city where armed militias hold sway. Basra controls a key land supply line from Kuwait to Baghdad and farther north, and is also near important oil fields.

In a report last June, the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said Basra residents and militiamen would consider the British departure "not as an orderly withdrawal" but as "an ignominious defeat."

"Today, the city is controlled by militias, seemingly more powerful and unconstrained than before," the report said.

But Iraq's defense minister said he was confident his military will be able to fill the vacuum and maintain security in Basra.

"We are working very seriously to fill the security vacuum and we expect in the next few days to fill it in a good way," Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi said.