The White House on Thursday rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's pessimistic “dead end” assessment of U.S. involvement in Iraq and painted a cautiously optimistic picture of progress there. In another sign of a growing rift between Washington and Moscow on issues like Iran's controversial nuclear program and the U.S. presence in Iraq, Putin warned the United States against occupying Iraq “eternally” and called for a troop-withdrawal timetable. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that the U.S.-led security crackdown was making gains on security, economic, and political fronts. “We are starting to see good trend lines moving upwards in terms of better national security in Iraq. Protecting the population has improved. Their economy is improving, and the … reconciliation is happening on the political level,” she told reporters. Perino's remarks came after Putin said in Moscow that President George W. Bush should “name a date for withdrawal” to pressure Iraqi leaders into accelerating the training of Iraqi security forces. The Russian leader said he agreed with Bush that a withdrawal should not be carried out until Iraq was able to support itself, but he added that “to have an occupation regime there eternally is unacceptable.” The spokeswoman sought to dispel talk of a deteriorating personal relationship between Bush and Putin. “They have a good relationship,” she said, adding that “they can speak very frankly to one another” because “they have a relationship of trust.”
