The Iraqi Government’s performance has been extremely disappointing, the US Ambassador to Baghdad said yesterday in what was probably his last public comments before delivering a critical report to Congress on whether Iraq can be turned around.

Iraq’s security situation had improved after the deployment of 30,000 extra US troops, but Nouri al-Maliki’s Government had failed to promote national reconciliation, Ryan Crocker told The Times.

He was speaking hours after Carl Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, ended a three-day visit to Iraq by urging the Parliament to bring down the Shia-led Government because it was incapable of achieving political compromise.

Mr Crocker did not go that far, and said that the Government was grappling with complex issues at a time of great bitterness and distrust. But he declared: “We do expect results, as do the Iraqi people, and our support is not a blank cheque.”

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What happened in 1991 has very little relevance to many Iraqis given what has happened more recently in Baghdad

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Iraq timeline: five years of conflict

From accusations that the weapons of mass destruction dossier had been sexed-up to withdrawal of British troops from Basra

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Mr Crocker is not an isolated voice in the US Administration. The sentiments he expressed were echoed yesterday by President Bush, who admitted that “there’s a certain level of frustration with the [Iraqi] leadership”. Mr Crocker and General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, will report to Congress next month, and their views will be critical in determining whether it decides to stay the course – or that the war is hopeless.

The Democratic-led Congress has demanded progress not just on security, but on specific political measures, including a fair distribution of oil revenues, a reversal of the de-Baathification process, which excludes Sunnis from senior jobs, and the disbandment of sectarian militias. Instead, the Iraqi Government has come close to collapse, with three big blocs of Sunnis, radical Shias and secularists leaving it.

Mr Crocker noted that Mr al-Maliki and four other top Iraqis, including the Sunni Vice-President, were meeting almost daily to try to create a unified Government, and a breakthrough was still possible. “I have been struck by a broadly-shared sense that it’s really time to get something done.”

Mr Crocker also cautioned against a premature withdrawal of British troops from Basra. He expressed confidence that London would study conditions in the southern city carefully before handing it over to Iraqi security forces. “Basra is a challenge, there’s no question. Like a lot of things it’s a challenge the Iraqis have increasingly to step up to,” he said.

Yesterday also marked the opening of the trial of “Chemical Ali” - Ali Hassan al-Majid - and 14 other senior members of Saddam’s regime charged with crimes against humanity over the ruthless suppression of the Shia uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.

In normal circumstances the trial would be an important event, but Iraqi media coverage was muted. Saddam has been executed and al-Majid has already been sentenced to death for atrocities against the Kurds, and will hang before this trial ends if his appeal fails. Ordinary Iraqis said that they were too preoccupied with today’s sectarian violence and suicide bombings to worry about events of 16 years ago. “We have others things to worry about – our future,” said one.

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