(Updates with McConnell, Reid quotes from Capitol Hill) By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The Iraqi government has failed to take the political and military steps needed to cut sectarian violence, a U.S. congressional report said on Tuesday and a U.S. general said the next months were critical for creating security in the country. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Iraq had failed to meet 11 of 18 political and military benchmarks set by the U.S. Congress in May, including elimination of militia control of local security. "Violence remains high, the number of Iraqi security forces capable of conducting independent operations has declined, and militias are not disarmed," the GAO, the investigating arm of Congress, said. Despite the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. troops to Iraq, raising force levels to 160,000, it said the number of attacks on civilians remained unchanged from February to July 2007. In Baghdad, the head of day-to-day U.S. military operations said the next three to four months would be vital to determine if violence could be cut further and security maintained with fewer American troops. Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno, the number two U.S. military commander in Iraq, said last week had seen the lowest number of violent incidents against civilians and security forces across Iraq in the past 15 months. "I think if we can continue to do what we are doing, we'll get to such a level where we think we can do it with less troops," Odierno told a small group of foreign reporters at a U.S. military base near Baghdad airport. He said attacks in August were the lowest in 13 months. Odierno gave no detailed numbers, but he said the attacks included all violent incidents such as bombings and shootings. In fresh violence on Tuesday, a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi army major and four soldiers in the volatile oil city of Baji north of Baghdad. The Electricity Ministry also said eight workers had been kidnapped and killed in Baghdad on Monday. VIOLENCE REMAINS HIGH The GAO report was one of three awaited by the Democratic-led Congress as it heads for a showdown this month with Bush over his Iraq strategy. He is under mounting pressure from Democrats and some senior Republicans who want U.S. troops to start leaving after more than four years of war in which 3,700 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed. President George W. Bush flew into Iraq's western Anbar province on Monday to meet with top commanders, where he pointed to security successes in the region and raised the prospect of drawing down U.S. troops. But he said this would be done if gains continue, and only from a position of strength. The White House is to submit an assessment of the situation in Iraq by Sept. 15, after testimony to Congress next week by U.S. Iraq commander David Petraeus and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. In the House of Representatives, it appeared Republican unity backing Bush on Iraq was fracturing as six Republicans who have opposed past U.S. troop pullout proposals joined five Democrats in writing to House leaders and calling for a bipartisan strategy to bring U.S. troops home. "While we are hopeful that their (Petraeus' and Crocker's) report will show progress, we should not wait any longer to come together in support of a responsible post-surge strategy to safely bring our troops home to their families," said the letter. In the Senate, one Republican leader talked of a long-term commitment to the region. "I would like to see us with at least some level of bipartisan agreement that we need a long-term deployment somewhere in the Middle East, in the future, for two reasons: Al Qaeda and Iran," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on the Senate floor that finding a "path out of Iraq" would be top priority in the Senate this fall. Iraq's parliament briefly reconvened on Tuesday after a monthlong summer recess. It has not yet passed any of the benchmark laws, including measures that would equitably share oil revenues, ease restrictions on former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party holding public office, and set a date for provincial elections. Lawmakers complain the government has yet to submit the draft laws to them. Parliament adjourned after about 90 minutes after lawmakers asked for time to read 10 bills that had been presented for their consideration, lawmaker Hussein al-Falluji told Reuters. The 10 bills did not include any of the benchmark laws. (Additional reporting by Dean Yates and Ross Colvin in Baghdad)
