WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack  Obama said yesterday that a string of spectacular deadly  bombings in Iraq were a cause for concern, but the political  system was functioning and violence was low compared to a year  ago. “Although you’ve seen some spectacular bombings in Iraq  that are … a legitimate cause of concern, civilian deaths,  incidents of bombings, et cetera, remain very low relative to  what was going on last year,” Obama told a news conference  marking his first 100 days in office. Speaking on a day when twin car bombs in Baghdad killed 41  people, the U.S. leader expressed confidence in the Iraqi  government and said the country was not experiencing the levels  of violence it had previously.

“You haven’t seen the kinds of huge spikes that you were  seeing for a time,” he said. “The political system is holding  and functioning in Iraq.”

Obama said he had decided on a course of gradual withdrawal  from Iraq in order to continue trying to isolate the remnants  of al Qaeda in Iraq.

He expressed confidence that his team on the ground would  “be able to work effectively with the Maliki government to  create the conditions for an ultimate transfer after the  national elections.”

Obama said the Iraqi government still had a lot of work to  do on sharing of oil revenues, and fixing provincial powers and  boundaries, but the U.S. strategy aimed to provide Baghdad with  “sufficient time for them to get that work done.”