WASHINGTON: With the long struggle over the Iraq spending bill nearing a climax, a top Democrat said Monday that Congress would pass a bill this week with a "fair and reasonable timetable" for troop withdrawal. But President George W. Bush again objected, saying that "for Congress to micromanage this process is a mistake."

Bush spoke after an Oval Office meeting with the man in charge of U.S. forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, who was in Washington to brief the president and to urge Congress not to put restrictions on the war-funding legislation at a time when he is overseeing an increase of 30,000 American troops in Iraq.

The president spoke hours before a House and Senate conference committee was to meet to reconcile the war spending bills of the two chambers. Democrats said they expected to approve a compromise measure quickly and bring it to a vote in the House as early as Wednesday, and in the Senate on Thursday.

Preemptively, however, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said that Bush had lost his way on Iraq, and that "the new Congress will show him the way" by passing a bill with "a fair and reasonable timetable" for troop withdrawal. Reid did not repeat his assertion of last week that "the war is lost" - which brought angry Republican rebukes.

The president has threatened to veto any bill that includes withdrawal timetables, but has also said that without the money needed to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, their ability to protect themselves could soon begin to suffer.

Democrats are still weighing how to respond after Bush's threatened veto, although they have said they ultimately would not endanger troops by holding up the spending request. Some favor replacing the withdrawal deadlines with benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet.

Meantime, amid the almost daily confrontations with the Democratic-controlled Congress, Bush gave no sign of wavering in support of his embattled attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, in the dispute over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

To the contrary, Bush said, Gonzales's recent appearance before a Senate committee had increased his confidence in the attorney general's ability to do his job.

"It was clear that the attorney broke no law, did no wrongdoing," he said. "This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence."

Sitting in the Oval Office with Petraeus, Bush again told reporters that there were signs of progress in Iraq since his troop-increase plan, now about half-complete, began early this year.

"There's been some horrific bombings, of course, but there's also a decline in sectarian violence," he said.

Bush made no mention of reports that violence had increased outside Baghdad.

The troops under Petraeus, he said, were "helping the Iraqi government find a breathing space necessary to do what the people want them to do."

"I will, of course, be willing to work with the Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, on a way forward," Bush said. But "for the Congress to micromanage this process," he added, "is a mistake."

The White House has been leaning on Petraeus in the fight with Congress over war funding. The general is popular on Capitol Hill, and Republicans argue that it makes no sense for a Senate that confirmed him by an 81-to-0 vote to then seek to tie his hands.

Petraeus, who has been heading the military effort in Iraq only since early February, will try to persuade lawmakers not to include withdrawal deadlines in the emergency spending measure.

House Democratic leaders have been urging their members to accept a compromise bill that calls for troop withdrawal as a goal, as the Senate version has done, rather than setting a mandatory deadline.

Bush said earlier that if he did not receive a bill he could sign by the middle of this month, one "with no strings attached," then the army might have to consider curtailing equipment purchases and repairs and delay the training of National Guard and Reserve units.

If the standoff continues into mid-May, he said, the army would have to delay training of active-duty units, affecting tour schedules by prolonging the stays of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Carl Hulse contributed reporting.

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