WASHINGTON - The U.S. surge in Iraq has led to some "promising" military progress on the ground, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Wednesday.

"The surge has resulted in a reduction of violence in many parts of Iraq," Durbin said in a conference call from Iraq with a half-dozen reporters. "More American troops have brought more peace to more parts of Iraq. I think that's a fact."

Durbin spoke after having a 2 1/2-hour dinner conversation with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and American Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

But the problem, said Durbin, is that as American troops leave an area, Iraqi forces are not ready to assume control. In addition, Iraqi politicians haven't made the type of progress that would produce "a government of national unity," he said.

"It makes me angry to think our troops are coming over here fighting and dying when the Iraqi government has made so little progress. That is the weakness in the president's strategy," Durbin said. "I think we have to start removing the troops. We have stretched our troops to the limit."

Whereas President George W. Bush made "colossal errors in the early stages of this war," it is now up to Iraqis to help overcome the chaos produced by those mistakes, Durbin said.

But the United States can't simply pull out entirely, he said. One of the problems in Iraq is that al-Qaida has so much cash it is paying young people $500 to "place an improvised explosive device and successfully explode it," Durbin said.

"We cannot ignore the fact that this war has created an al-Qaida franchise in Iraq, and we have to stay and fight that franchise," he said.

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