WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said Monday that he saw "pretty good progress" in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, where US soldiers and Iraqi forces have been fighting a militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.
"Our troops were engaged against Sadr's militia and so were the Iraqis. And it appears that we're making pretty good progress about stabilizing Najaf," Bush said as he met at the White House with Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka.
Asked about US policy towards Sadr, Bush replied: "Our policy is to work with (interim Iraqi) Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi and support the Iraqis as they move toward elections."
"Prime Minister Allawi is now in charge of the country. He is a good, strong leader who cares deeply about the aspirations of his people and he is somebody we're working with. And if he's got some suggestions to make, we're more than willing to listen to him," said Bush.
Allawi has told Sadr's militia to give up and leave Najaf.
Sadr vowed earlier Monday to fight the "occupation of Najaf" until his "last drop of blood," as clashes continued between his militiamen and US forces for a fifth day.
He also rejected an earlier invitation by the prime minister to run in elections scheduled for early next year.
Asked about public opinion poll numbers showing that a large majority of Poles do not want Polish troops to stay in Iraq, Belka replied that "no one wants to stay in Iraq forever."
"It's a sovereign country. It has its own international recognized government. It has its own rules that are developing. And we treat our presence in Iraq as serving this country to stabilize and stand on its own feet," he said.
"This is not a typical military operation. It's a stabilization in all senses of this word," said Belka.
Poland, which fought side by side with US soldiers in the war which toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, now heads a 6,500-strong multinational force in the country, including 2,500 of its own troops.
But almost three quarters of Poles -- 73 percent -- are opposed to the presence of their troops in the US-led coalition in Iraq, up from 67 percent in June, according to a poll from the CBOS institute published on Thursday.
And some 67 percent of the 920 people questioned during the poll carried out on July 9-12 said they wanted Polish troops pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible.
Poland has lost seven soldiers in Iraq, plus four civilians, including a prominent Polish television presenter and his Algerian picture editor who were gunned down last May.