President Bush has said the drop in violence in Iraq is a sign of the "durability" of progress but warned that gains made could be reversed. Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has again appealed to the Iraqi government not to sign a new security deal with the US.The deal Mr Bush told reporters outside the Oval Office that violence in Iraq had fallen to its to lowest level since spring 2004 and that "extremists who once terrified citizens have been driven from their strongholds".He said there was a "degree of durability" to the gains made by US and Iraqi forces which was due to the recent surge in US troop numbers and the "increasing capability of Iraqi forces". But he added that the chief US officials in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker "caution that the progress is still reversible". would replace the UN mandate which runs out at the end of the year. He said Iraqi troops would continue to take the lead in more military operations across the country. Mr Bush also said that the US and Iraqi governments were "making progress" on a deal to provide a legal basis for US troops to remain in Iraq once the UN mandate expires at the end of the year.
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