Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's claim of success for his Iraq strategy and his appeal to Congress to ``come together on a policy of strength'' in the Middle East were both rejected by Democratic leaders last night.

Bush urged Congress to accept Army General David Petraeus's recommendation for a gradual drawdown of U.S. forces over the coming year so long as recent progress continues. He also called for a long-term American military commitment to Iraq that would outlast his presidency.

``Whatever political party you belong to, whatever your position on Iraq, we should be able to agree that America has a vital interest in preventing chaos and providing hope in the Middle East,'' Bush said in an address last night from the Oval Office.

Bush's remarks were a prelude to a progress report he is submitting to Congress this week. He said the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Iraq that he ordered in January, bringing the total force today to about 169,000, has brought successes throughout the country, even as Iraq's central government ``has not met its own legislative benchmarks.''

The speech ``does not amount to real change,'' said Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, who delivered the Democratic response. ``Democrats believe it is time to change course.''

The president announced that 5,700 troops would be withdrawn by the end of this year and as many as 30,000 by the middle of 2008. That would leave about 130,000 forces in place, guaranteeing that the war, now in its fifth year, will remain an issue in the 2008 race to succeed him as president. He indicated U.S. involvement will go beyond that.

Extended Engagement

A stable, democratic Iraq ``will require U.S. political, economic, and security engagement that extends beyond my presidency,'' he said.

Retired Brigadier General Kevin Ryan said Bush's speech presages a long U.S. commitment. ``I don't see us getting out of Iraq for a decade,'' said Ryan, now a senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

As he has in the past, Bush argued that the battle in Iraq is central to America's security and the fight against terrorism, mentioning al-Qaeda 12 times.

``If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened,'' Bush said. ``A free Iraq will deny al-Qaeda a safe haven.''

Bush is relying on Petraeus's standing with Congress and the public in an unprecedented way to win support for his policies, presidential historian Robert Dallek said.

Public Trust

``He can't exercise authority at this point, he's lost his credibility, the public doesn't trust him,'' Dallek said. ``Therefore, what he's done is transfer the authority to this general, and its really quite inappropriate.''

Congressional Democrats said they weren't persuaded. Reed said the troop drawdown, as recommended by Petraeus, 54, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, would leave American forces at the level they were before Bush ordered a build-up.

``Under his best-case scenario, a year from now we'll be exactly where we were a year ago: with 130,000 brave Americans caught in the crossfire of another country's civil war,'' Reed said. Bush is continuing ``a flawed strategy that diverted attention and resources away from hunting down Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.''

Democrats vowed to press Bush to withdraw troops at a quicker pace. While they have majorities in the House and Senate, they don't have enough votes yet to force such a change.

Bar for Success

``I am committed to working together with Democrats and some Republicans to constrain the president and not give him a blank check,'' Senator Barack Obama, 46, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said on CNN immediately after the speech. ``The bar for success has been dropped so low it's barely visible.''

Former Senator John Edwards, 54, another presidential candidate, went a step further. He bought airtime on cable network MSNBC and called on Congress to cut off funds for the war unless a withdrawal deadline is set, something none of the other top Democratic candidates has done.

``When the president asks for more money and more time, Congress needs to tell him he only gets one choice: a firm timeline for withdrawal,'' Edwards said. ``No timeline, no funding. No excuses.''

His comments threatened to open a schism among Democrats over how to frame the Iraq debate and the next steps to take.

Anticipating critics, Bush said they were ``mistaken'' in contending that his policy has failed and cannot be rescued.

`Never Too Late'

``It is never too late to deal a blow to al-Qaeda,'' Bush said. ``It is never too late to advance freedom. And it is never too late to support our troops in a fight they can win.''

Bush acknowledged that Iraqi leaders have fallen short on commitments to reach political compromises that would ease sectarian tensions, and called on Iraqi citizens to pressure them to do so.

``The government has not met its own legislative benchmarks, and in my meetings with Iraqi leaders, I have made it clear they must,'' Bush said.

A report released earlier this month by the Government Accountability Office, Congress's investigative agency, concluded that Iraq's government has fulfilled only three of 18 benchmarks on political and security progress.

Bush, 61, said that Iraqi leaders were achieving some progress, such as ``sharing oil revenues with the provinces.'' This statement reflects the comments of U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker to a congressional committee earlier this week.

Crocker said that even though the government has failed to enact legislation guaranteeing each region and group an equitable share of oil revenues, it has begun to share some of those revenues with provinces through budget allocations.

To contact the reporters on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols@bloomberg.net; Ken Fireman in Washington at kfireman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 14, 2007 00:04 EDT