The White House promised Thursday to allow Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, to testify in open session before congressional committees, denying reports that the administration had sought only private meetings with lawmakers.

“General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will testify to the Congress in both open as well as closed sessions. ... That has always been our intention,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

But aides to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said negotiations between congressional leaders and the administration to open the hearings were still ongoing.

“We are in talks with the administration now,” Levin’s aide said, adding that Levin had been pushing for an open hearing but no agreement had been reached.

An aide to Foreign Relations Committee ranking Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana said his committee staff was communicating directly with Petraeus’ staff to discuss how the general’s views would be shared with members of Congress.

Lugar’s staff was not coordinating its efforts with Levin’s office, according to the aide, but neither office was under the impression that the White House had agreed to open testimony before Johndroe spoke.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a statement issued Thursday afternoon, said, “The White House’s effort to prevent General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker from testifying openly and candidly before Congress about the situation in Iraq is unacceptable. Not only does it contradict the law President Bush himself signed in May, but it appears to be yet another politically driven attempt to avoid giving Congress and the American people an honest and open assessment of a war we can all see is headed in the wrong direction.”

Assuming that Petraeus and Crocker do testify sometime the week of Sept. 10 before one or both of the Senate committees, they will be supplementing a report to Congress due Sept. 15 on Iraq’s progress in meeting 18 specific benchmarks.

The White House acknowledged that the benchmark report, required by the fiscal 2007 emergency supplemental spending law (PL 110-28), will be written by the NSC senior staff using input from Petraeus, Crocker, Central Command chief Admiral William J. Fallon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and other sources.

Previously, administration officials had repeatedly said the report would be based primarily on data from Petraeus and Crocker. An interim version of that report, issued in July, said the Iraqi government had made “satisfactory” progress on only 8 of the 18 benchmarks laid out in the law.

While the law states that the benchmark report should be submitted by the president, it also mandates that Petraeus and Crocker “will be made available to testify in open and closed sessions before the relevant committees of the Congress.”

Democrats and Republicans alike expect the testimony to frame a renewed Senate debate on the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill (HR 1585), which Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pulled from the floor July 18 after it bogged down over Iraq-related amendments.

During the same time period, the House will begin consideration of the Iraq war funding supplemental portion of the fiscal 2008 Defense appropriations bill (HR 3222), which Democrats also intend to use as a vehicle to force President Bush to alter his war policies.

A senior military official in Baghdad, who asked not to be identified because he was commenting on ongoing discussions, said Petraeus had not received any instructions whatsoever regarding his testimony and has no influence in how his assessments are disseminated in Washington.

“We are prepared to submit testimony however it is determined by the administration and Congress,” the senior official said, stressing that Petraeus’ testimony will not be vetted through the White House. Petraeus also plans to hold at least one news conference while in Washington.

The senior official stressed the difference between the benchmark report, which is a product of the entire administration, and Petraeus’ personal testimony, which will offer the general’s unvarnished assessment of the military and political situation on the ground as well as his personal recommendations.

“His testimony will be his word coming out of his mouth. Nobody is going to be telling him what to say or how to say it,” the senior official said.

The senior official also disputed recent reports that Petraeus is planning to call for a reduction in the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Rather, Petraeus will simply acknowledge that the president’s “surge” of troops in Iraq will end next year, bringing troop levels back to the previous level, he said.

But the official stressed that Petraeus’ recommendations haven’t been written yet and could change as the situation in Iraq changes. “Everyone should just relax and stop trying to read the general’s mind,” this official said.

Levin, along with former Armed Services Chairman John W. Warner, R-Va., are on their way to Iraq now to meet with senior leaders there and make their own assessments.

In a speech in Lansing, Mich., on Wednesday, Levin said he is focused on the progress of the Iraq government. “The only way to achieve political progress is to force Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country,” Levin said, adding that he wants to know “whether or not there’s any progress on the part of Iraqi leadership to work out their differences.”

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., issued a statement Thursday saying he too wants direct reporting not influenced by the White House. “We must have an honest and thorough assessment of Iraqi political progress and the capacity of the Iraqi Security Forces to take over security responsibilities,” he said.

Several other Iraq reports are also on the way. On Sept. 1, the Defense Department is required to submit the latest of its quarterly reports on the status of the Iraqi Security Forces. Also on that day, the Government Accountability Office is expected to release a report on Iraqi reconstruction and reconciliation. And Marine Gen. James Jones is leading a commission that will report back on progress in Iraq sometime in September.