Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level for 18 months, the deputy American commander claimed yesterday.

Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno said that attacks in Baghdad alone had halved since January, while foreign terrorists had been “pushed out” of many areas. Although he made no specific reference to southern Iraq, where the British have responsibility, military sources in Basra confirmed that attacks against troops in the south had also dropped significantly. They said that security had improved since British troops pulled out of the city centre.

General Odierno said that violence was at its lowest since the bombing of the Golden Dome mosque in Samarra in February last year – the event that sparked unprecedented waves of sectarian slaughter. The number of sectarian killings in Baghdad had fallen from an average of about 32 a day to 12 this year, although he added: “There are still way too many civilian casualties inside of Baghdad and Iraq.”

The latest evidence of progress came after last week’s upbeat report to Congress from General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, on the impact of the surge deployment of 30,000 extra troops.

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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But US Democrats say that much of this analysis is contradicted by independent studies, while the antiwar group Moveon.org branded General Petraeus as “General Betray Us” in a full-page newspaper advertisement which accused him of “cooking the books” for the White House. President Bush yesterday vented his anger at the “disgusting” treatment meted out to the general and criticised Democratic leaders for failing to speak out against the advert.

He added: “And that leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org, or more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military.” He suggested it was “one thing to attack me” but quite another to attack senior figures in the US military – who are traditionally regarded as being exempt from the partisan political fray in Washington.

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