Honolulu ? President Bush met with wounded soldiers and military commanders Saturday before heading for the White House and a renewed fight with the Democratic-run Congress over future U.S. involvement in Iraq.

He plans a nationally televised address this coming week to “lay out a vision” for the American people about the U.S. role. In his Saturday radio address, Bush also set the stage for Monday’s congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the chief U.S. commander in Iraq.

Bush flew here from Sydney, Australia. As Air Force One refueled in Hawaii, he met with the soldiers and was briefed by military commanders. He was expected back in Washington early today.

In the radio talk, recorded before the flight, Bush recounted his Labor Day trip to Iraq’s Anbar Province to visit U.S. troops and “see with my own eyes the remarkable changes they are making possible.”

Sunni tribal leaders, working with Iraqi and U.S. forces, helped drive out al-Qaida militants, Bush said. “The level of violence is down. Local governments are meeting again. Young Sunnis are joining the police and army. And normal life is returning,” the president said.

“Success in Anbar is critical to the democratic future of Iraq and to the war on terror,” he said.

But the Senate’s top Democrat contended in his party’s weekly radio address that the president had misled the country into “an ill-planned war in Iraq” before finishing the job of destroying al-Qaida.

The U.S. military is not to blame for setbacks in the war, said Nevada Sen. Harry Reid. “These are President Bush’s failures – and it is long past time for him to change his flawed policies,” he said.

Previewing his national address, Bush said he would “lay out a vision for future involvement in Iraq – one that I believe the American people and their elected leaders of both parties can support. By coming together on the way forward, we will strengthen Iraq’s democracy, deal a blow to our enemies, secure interests in the Middle East and make our nation safer.”

Anticipating Petraeus’ testimony to Congress, Reid said he expected the commander’s assessment would “pass through the White House spin machine, where facts are often ignored or twisted, and intelligence is cherry-picked.”

Addressing the Iraq business that awaits him in Washington, Bush said: “There is no question there’s still hard work to do, but my resolve is as strong as it’s ever been.”