WASHINGTON - US President Bush was optimistic about sectarian reconciliation in Iraq during his surprise visit to the Middle East country on Monday.

|PIC1|The President's visit was made a week ahead of the much-anticipated congressional report from General David H Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, on the conflict's progress.

During his visit, Bush emphasised to troops and reporters the success seen in the province of Anbar and the hope for its replication in other areas of Iraq - especially for the more complex Sunni-Shiite violence.

"When you stand on the ground here in Anbar and hear from the people who live here, you can see what the future of Iraq can look like," said Bush at the remote Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar province, according to The New York Times.

In the past couple of months, the Sunni-dominated Anbar province has experienced stability and peace not seen elsewhere in Iraq. Citizens are reportedly able to go outside and wash their cars without fear of a bomb blowing up as is the case in most other parts of Iraq.

The difference resulted from Sunni tribal leaders teaming up with US military forces to drive out Sunni al Qaeda-linked extremists in the formerly volatile western province. US deaths in Anbar have dropped from 40 in December to four in June, according to the US News and World Report.

While such developments are encouraging, the Bush administration and Congress have been criticised for ignoring abuses against religious minorities in Iraq and for viewing these communities as "inconsequential".

"They (religious minorities) don't sponsor terrorism, hold political power or have strong regional allies. Because they do not cause trouble, they are ignored," wrote Nina Shea, a commissioner for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, in a recent column in the Washington Post.

"They are not simply caught in the crossfire or a Muslim power struggle; they are being targeted in a ruthless cleansing campaign by Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish militants," Shea noted.

Iraqi Christians, for example, are frequently the target of kidnappings for ransom because they often own small businesses. Moreover, this minority group suffers from assassination of its religious leaders, bombings and destruction of churches, and death threats meant to force Christians from their homes - abuses all acknowledged by the USCIRF.

"The United States has no policies designed to protect or rescue them (religious minorities)," Shea wrote. "Worse, it has carried out policies heedless of their effect on Iraq's most vulnerable."

As a result, Iraqi Christians - mostly Assyrians or Chaldeans who are some of the oldest Christian communities in the world - have been forced to flee Iraq in droves.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates Christians make up nearly half of the refugees fleeing Iraq although they compose only three per cent of the country's population.

About four million of Iraq's 26 million people have fled the country since the 2003 US-led offensive, according to the UNHCR.

"The situation is more than desperate," testified the Rev Canon Andrew White before USCIRF in July. White is the vicar of the 1,300-member St George's Anglican Church in Baghdad which organises an interfaith reconciliation effort sponsored by the Pentagon.

"The Coalition has failed the Christians. We have done nothing to support the Christian community or the increased Christian suffering," lamented White, who is from England.

The Anglican priest emphasised that violence against Christians is increasing "all the time", citing that 36 of his own congregants were kidnapped in July alone and only one returned.

"It is in America's national and moral interests to help Iraq's Christians and other non-Muslims," advised Shea in her column. "The most vulnerable must be given asylum. We must also help those determined to stay."

The White House will give a formal report on Iraq to Congress by September 15 to try to persuade US lawmakers to continue funding the Iraq war.