Petraeus says progress in Iraq is ‘fragile’

Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, used a slew of bombings in Iraq to warn a House panel that the progress in the Middle Eastern country is still “fragile and reversible.”

{mosads}Petraeus told House appropriators on Friday that the most recent attacks in Iraq — which claimed the lives of 135 people in two days — could be the work of a foreign fighter network launching from Tunisia in North Africa.

Petraeus said that four recent suicide bombers in Iraq came from Tunisia. Officials captured one of the bombers who planned an attack, he noted.

Much of Congress and the White House’s attention has shifted to Afghanistan, where conditions have worsened, but Petraeus warned “numerous challenges still confront [Iraq’s] leaders and its people, and we have seen some of those in the last couple of days.”

However, he added that coalition forces are making progress transferring security responsibility to Iraqi forces, allowing for a steady withdrawal of U.S. units from urban areas. He said the military is on track to end its combat mission by Aug. 31, 2010. A residual force of up to 50,000 will remain in Iraq through 2011.