The Hill News

President George W. Bush deserves some credit for the transition away from a combat mission in Iraq, Democrats said Tuesday.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) praised the former Republican president for the "courageous decision" to increase troop levels in Iraq in 2007, while Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), fresh off a trip to Iraq, said the troop surge was "absolutely worth it."

"The remarkable turnaround in Iraq is due to many factors, but it would not have been possible without the courageous decision of President Bush to launch the surge in 2007 -- initiating a set of policies that President Obama, to his great credit, has sustained and built upon to bring us to this day," Lieberman said Tuesday in a statement.

Baird, a centrist who supported the surge when Bush first made the proposal, said the change in mission marked Tuesday by President Obama was "worthy of giving President Bush credit," along with Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C! rocker, two figures also singled out for praise by Lieberman.

The Democratic praise for Bush comes as Obama prepares an Oval Office address this evening, his second, to mark the change in strategy that resulted in the withdrawal of 90,000 troops from Iraq.

Obama is set to call Bush on Tuesday before delivering the address this evening, but the White House this morning was coy about whether or not the president would offer praise to his immediate predecessor in tonight's speech.

"I think the president will talk about the situation in Iraq, thank the president for his service, for his love of country. And I think they'll have a nice private, quiet conversation about what's going on in the world," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said of that call during an appearance on Fox news. But Gibbs was much more coy as to whether Bush would receive public recognition.

Obama, as a senator and presidential candidate, had opposed th! e surge and argued for the need of an increased diplomatic pre! sence al ongside any ramped-up military action in order to wind down the war in Iraq.

Obama's opposition to the surge at the time is a focal point of Republican criticism of the administration, in a series of concerted "pre-buttals" to Obama's address.

"Some leaders who opposed, criticized, and fought tooth-and-nail to stop the surge strategy now proudly claim credit for the results," House GOP leader John Boehner (Ohio) will say during a speech to the American Legion in Milwaukee. "[T]oday we mark not the defeat those voices anticipated â€" but progress."