Petraeus: 'Forthright assessment' ahead

WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. military surge in Iraq is working and is pushing into al-Qaida sanctuaries previously seldom visited by coalition forces, Gen. David Petraeus says.

Addressing concerns the surge may not be working -- including a Pentagon report indicating insurgent violence has shifted to other regions of the country -- the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said, "We're ahead of where we thought, I thought, we would be at this point in time, and then we are behind where we might have been in some other areas."

The general, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," cited the "stunning reversal" in Anbar, a province many viewed as lost less than a year ago but where now tribes seek coalition help in fighting al-Qaida.

In Baghdad, he said, about 30 percent of the neighborhoods are hot spots causing "real concern" because of "the fault lines between Sunni and Shiites."

Come September, when he and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker update lawmakers, Petraeus said it would be a "forthright assessment" of what has and has not been achieved militarily, economically and politically.

He said he believes the United States could still leave a stable, democratic government in Iraq.