President George W Bush has said the US has got a plan to lead to victory in Iraq.
Mr Bush was speaking to a group of business leaders in Ohio. But he also said that the Iraqis have 'got to do more work'.
Top US officials have increasingly expressed unhappiness with the Baghdad government's failure to enact legislation and to set up provincial elections.
President Bush, in his Ohio speech, asked US lawmakers rebelling against his Iraq strategy to wait until a September progress report.
The US President's comments came as an interim progress report, due in Congress by 15 July, that was expected to paint a dark picture of trends in Iraq even as Democrats seek to force a US troop withdrawal.
President Bush urged lawmakers to wait for the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, to give his September assessment of the situation.
But he said; 'troop levels will be decided by our commanders on the ground, not by political figures in Washington.'
Mr Bush acknowledged the American public's deep unhappiness with the sustained deadly violence in Iraq. He said he understood why people ask if it is worth it and if an objective can be accomplished. He said that the US 'can accomplish and win this fight in Iraq.'
The White House has been rocked in recent weeks by several Republican senators who have publicly stated their belief that a change of policy in Iraq is needed.
Today, the Senate began debating the Defence Authorisation Bill.
The majority leader, Democratic Senator Harry Reid, is co-sponsoring an amendment that would see US troops begin to be pulled out in November with 'most' troops out by April next year.
Attempts to attach a timetable for withdrawal on an earlier spending bill in May failed.
It is far from clear if the Republicans who have expressed dissatisfaction with the President's 'troop surge' will support this current amendment.
They are thought to be behind a separate effort to call on the President to implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group report.
Late last night the Associated Press, quoting an unnamed official, reported that an interim assessment of the surge plan will show the Iraqi government has met none of its benchmarks for progress.
That report will be placed before Congress, possibly by the end of this week.
