Petraeus has requested a temporary halt to a troop drawdown that had been due to begin this summer. And Sen. Orrin Hatch said he agrees. "I don't think we have any choice but to support" Petraeus' plan, Hatch said.

Utah's senior senator expressed optimism that the surge had bought much needed time for the Iraqi government to make progress toward stabilizing the war-torn nation, saying that recent operations in southern Iraq show the fledgling military is "taking care of their homeland" and predicting that "we are reaching a point where they are going to be paying for their own security."

Though notably less enthusiastic, Sen. Bob Bennett said he wouldn't second-guess Petraeus' recommendation, which would keep about 140,000 troops in Iraq, roughly the pre-surge level, for the time being.

"I remain satisfied that the general is delivering on the promises he made when he said 'I can make things better,' " Bennett said.

But breaking with more optimistic voices from his party, like those of Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Bennett warned that "nobody can be confident with anything with respect to Iraq."

That includes congressional Democrats, Bennett said, who "are no longer claiming [the surge] is a total failure." He noted that Democratic arguments about who is paying for the war - the U.S. continues to fund Iraqi reconstruction, while more than $30 billion in Iraqi reserves remain in bank accounts in New York and Switzerland - are a new wrinkle in the opposition to ongoing war efforts.

"It demonstrates that they have recognized that we have succeeded to a degree that nobody had anticipated," Bennett said.

Indeed, Rep. Jim Matheson, the lone Democrat in Utah's five-member congressional delegation, acknowledged there have been security improvements in Iraq over the past year. But Matheson, who opposed the surge, said it would be wrong to credit the increase in U.S. troops with the entirety of the change in the security situation. He noted in particular the swell of Sunni tribal support against al-Qaida fighters and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's 2007 order for his militia to stand down.

In the midst of so much it cannot control, Matheson said, "our military has done everything it can do."

U.S. troops "have done remarkably well in terms of doing what they can do," he said. "But I'm not sure there is much more security gain that can be achieved in Iraq."

But House colleague Rob Bishop said that while progress has been made, "there is still work to be done." Like Hatch, he saw promise in the steps being taken by Iraq's government.

"That's still a concern, but even in this area in the last few months, there has been some real progress and substantial accomplishments," Bishop said.

Rep. Chris Cannon agreed, saying there was little choice but to carry on in Iraq. "The last year has also seen great hope and promise as well . . . " he said. "Taking the fight to al-Qaida anywhere makes America safer here at home."

Cannon blamed "the lack of reasoned discourse" in the United States for the slowing of progress in Iraq. "Republicans have been ready to portray every success as a turning point while Democrats have ignored all successes and focused on bloodshed," he said.

"That concern has not been assuaged, nor does the current presidential hyperbole give me much hope that it will change," Cannon said.

Petraeus will address a House committee today.

mcanham@sltrib.com,

mlaplante@sltrib.com