Pat Dollard | Young Americans

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s prime minister said Monday he expects the U.S. 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.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters Monday that his government was making progress toward national reconciliation and that both 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,” al-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 U.S. troop buildup.

Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have blamed al-Maliki and called for him to be replaced.

Stung by those calls, al-Maliki said his critics have overlooked the achievements of his government, including a reduction “to a large extent” in sectarian reprisal killings.

The Shiite 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 U.S. support.

It is unclear, however, whether next week’s reports will ease Democarts’ calls for substantial troop cuts and or change U.S. critics’ impressions of al-Maliki.

A draft report still under review at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad includes allegations that the al-Maliki government is riddled with corruption and has tried to prevent investigations into alleged graft by Shiite-controlled agencies, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the findings.

Asked about those allegations, al-Maliki told reporters Monday that Iraq’s top corruption fighter, Radhi al-Radhi, has fled the country because he was expected to face charges himself. Al-Maliki did not elaborate.

But al-Radhi told The Associated Press by telephone that he was attending a training course in Washington and intends to return. He denied the allegations and said al-Maliki should have spoken instead about corruption in the ministries of oil, trade and electricity.