Bloomberg — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said President George W. Bush is in a “state of denial” about the Iraq war and the Democratic majority in Congress will push ahead with trying to end US involvement in the conflict.“With all due respect, our president is wrong, and the new Congress will show him the way,” Reid will say in a speech today to the non-partisan Woodrow Wilson International Centre in Washington, according to excerpts released by his office.

House and Senate lawmakers are starting negotiations on a measure to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that includes a timeline for troop withdrawals from Iraq. Bush yesterday repeated his vow to “strongly reject” any attempt by Democrats in Congress to set limits on the war effort.

“Politicians in Washington shouldn’t tell generals how to do their job,” Bush said after meeting at the White House with the top US commander in Iraq, Army General David Petraeus. Setting a deadline for withdrawal “would be a mistake.”

Petraeus is scheduled to brief lawmakers about the status of security in Iraq and the impact of the 30,000 additional troops Bush ordered deployed to the country earlier this year.

Congressional leaders aim to send the funding legislation to Bush this week. Once he issues the veto, some Democrats have said they are likely to replace the withdrawal timeline with benchmarks for the Iraqis to meet to ensure that they provide the $100 billion for the military.

Reid has been increasing pressure on Bush to alter course in Iraq, saying last week that he believed the war is “lost.”

In the excerpts of his speech today, Reid demands that Bush come up with an alternative to the timeline for US involvement sought by Democrats. He also complains that the president’s meetings with Democratic leaders so far this year have been little more than “carefully scripted sessions where he repeats his talking points.”

“Winning this war is no longer the job of the American military,” the Nevada Democrat will say. “Our troops have already done their job. They routed the Iraqi military, captured Baghdad in days, deposed and then captured the dictator. The military mission has long since been accomplished.”