George Bushは国が去年目撃される暴力のレベルに戻るかもしれないという恐れのためにイラクからの米国の軍隊の回収を中断するために彼が本当らしかったこの夏ことに昨日信号を送った。

3日間の夜間外出禁止がバグダッドに続いたバスラの第3連続的な1日戦いように課されたと同時に、イラクに利益がずっとあることを米国の大統領は言った、暴力の全面的なレベル、保証と話すことは壊れやすかった、が。

彼は154,000強い米国軍からイラクの米国の司令官、デイヴィッドPetraeus大将、およびライアンCrocker、イラクに米国の大使に来月を話した後より多くの回収についての彼の決定をする。 But he added: “As I consider the way forward, I will always remember that the progress in Iraq is real, it’s substantive, but it is reversible. And so the decision on our troop levels will be ensuring that we succeed in Iraq.”

Bush praised as a bold decision the offensive against Shia militias ordered by the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, also a Shia. “This operation is going to take some time to complete,” Bush predicted, though the offensive would demonstrate to Iraqis that no one was above the law.

More than 130 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the government began its operation on Tuesday, led by 15,000 soldiers from the national army. Tens of thousands of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s supporters marched in Baghdad in a show of force, demanding Maliki’s removal.

Last night Sadr called for talks, issuing a statement: “We ask everyone to adopt the [means of] political resolution and peaceful protest. Do not shed Iraqi blood.”

But Maliki, previously accused by Iraqi Sunni Muslims of being soft on Shia militias, has vowed to finish the job. He went to Basra to be with forces there, and gave an ultimatum to local Shia militias to surrender their weapons by today. “We entered this battle with determination and we will continue to the end. No retreat. No talks. No negotiations,” he said.

However the Mahdi army, the militia nominally loyal to Sadr, retained control of the streets. A Reuters correspondent in Basra said government forces had cordoned off seven districts but were being repelled by Mahdi army fighters inside them.

US troop levels in Iraq fell from a 2003 level of 250,000 to 130,000 early last year before Bush announced a deployment “surge” of an extra 30,000 soldiers to try to stabilise Baghdad and other areas in central Iraq where the fighting was most fierce. Some soldiers have already been withdrawn and at least 14,000 are expected to leave between now and the summer. Petraeus and other commanders want to keep the level at about 140,000 in a “pause”, to assess the impact on security before ordering further withdrawals.

Bush claimed that during the past year there had been an overall significant decrease in violence.

Ewen MacAskill

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