WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 -- U.S. President George W. Bush, during a videoconference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday, urged the Iraqi leadership to make political progress.

       "Both sides share the view that it's important to have political progress as well as continued progress on the ground militarily," White House spokesman Tony Snow said at a briefing.

       The Iraqi prime minister expressed some optimism about the legislative process going on in Iraq, Snow said.

       The videoconference came hours before U.S. top military commander Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker made key testimony before the Congress.

       The Bush administration, which launched the Iraq war in 2003 and toppled the Saddam Hussein regime, has been under heavy pressure to speed up Iraq's national reconciliation process, as tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in Iraq's sectarian violence.