Iraq says making progress ahead of key reports

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's foreign minister said on Thursday the government had made progress in responding to U.S. goals for improved security and political reconciliation ahead of key reports soon to be delivered to the U.S. Congress.

The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker will testify before Congress on either September 11 or 12.

Their reports on Iraq's security and political situation could prompt a shift in U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraq policy amid calls from opposition Democrats and some senior Republicans for U.S. troops to start leaving Iraq.

"The whole world is waiting anxiously to see what these reports will indicate," Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told a news conference.

Zebari said there had been a "great deal" of progress on the security front in Iraq, while an agreement at the weekend by the country's top five Shi'ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish leaders to boost national reconciliation was a "significant move".

Sceptics have questioned how much of that deal -- which included consensus on easing curbs on former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party returning to government jobs -- will translate into action given the paralysis gripping the Shi'ite-led administration of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The deal also called for the release of many detainees held across Iraq. Both issues are at the heart of complaints from disaffected Sunni Arabs, dominant under Saddam.

"I am hopeful that come September 11 or 12 you will see more political progress along these lines," Zebari said.