Sen. Max Baucus, in Iraq Saturday, told reporters that the Iraqi government “still doesn’t have its act together” and needs “a bigger nudge” from the United States to better defend its country from warring factions.

Baucus, in a telephone interview from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said he delivered that message to Iraq President Jalal Talabani and will do so again in a meeting Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Baucus said he personally requested the meeting with al-Maliki, who has refused to meet with visiting members of the U.S. Congress for a month.

“I and others repeatedly made it clear to the leadership that they’ve got to do a lot more than they are doing now,” said Baucus, who is on his first visit to Iraq. “They need a bigger nudge. They could stand a greater dose of reality to move them.”

He added, “The clock is ticking as far as I’m concerned.”

“There are no easy answers,” Baucus added later. “We could immediately pull everybody out. That would create a set of unintended consequences which we would rue (later).”

Based on what he has seen, Baucus said he doesn’t believe President Bush’s “surge,” or increase in American troops in Iraq, has worked. In January 2007, Bush announced he was sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq. As of last week, the United States had 168,000 troops in Iraq, the most ever.

“It was supposed to give breathing room for the Iraqi government,” Baucus said. “It did not work.”

Baucus said it wasn’t at all clear to him that maintaining the same U.S. troop level “will result in its desired effect.”

“Our troops are getting thin with the desired rotation,” he said, adding, “The army is getting very strained.”

Baucus was traveling to Iraq when President Bush, in a speech Thursday night, announced a “drawdown” in which he would bring back 5,700 U.S. troops by Christmas.

“It’s not much of a drawdown,” Baucus said. He said Bush isn’t providing “sufficient impetus or nudge or push on Iraq.”

Baucus said he intends to be “very firm” with Prime Minister al-Maliki and tell him the Iraqi government must do much more. The Montana Democrat said he will ask the prime minister questions to help him determine whether there has been a reduction in the sectarian violence and car bombings.

“I don’t know yet what existing external incentives can we in the Congress enact,” Baucus said. He said he may have a more clear idea after the meeting on whether to support various benchmarks and timelines to reduce the number of troops over time.

The senator cited various reports, including one by the Government Accountability Office, and one by Marine Gen. James Jones, that have shown the Iraqi government is doing a poor job.

Baucus, who said he met with generals as well as soldiers, praised the professionalism and competence of U.S. troops at all levels.

When he talked to several U.S. soldiers candidly, Baucus summarized their comments as: “There has got to be a change. The United States can’t keep going on like this.”

Baucus is the only member of the U.S. Senate to have a relative killed in the war. His nephew, Phillip Baucus, son of John and Nina Baucus, who own the Sieben Ranch north of Helena, was a Marine killed in Iraq in the summer of 2006.

“It’s been difficult,” Baucus said. “I clearly think about it a lot, but I want to do what’s right for Montana and the country. I suppose Phillip’s death has encouraged me to think even more intently about this and find out what’s right. It’s basically further sharpened my focus.

“In my judgment it was a mistake going into Iraq, but we’re here. We’ve got to figure out a way to get out of this morass and we must do it quickly.”

Baucus voted to authorize the war in Iraq, but said earlier this year that he regretted that vote.

Baucus said he had met with six Montana soldiers at the time of the interview shortly before noon Mountain Daylight Time.

“I’m very proud that we Montanans are stepping up,” he said in response to a question that noted that more Montanans per capita are fighting in Iraq.

“That just makes me very proud of our state and of our people,” he said. “Yeah, it’s probably an incentive to find a right effort. I don’t want any more Montana casualties in Iraq.”

Baucus led the two-day trip, which also included fellow Democratic Sens. Ken Salazar of Colorado and Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.

A Baucus press release said they met with U.S. troops and local leaders at a combat outpost in Baghdad and had lunch with soldiers from their home states. Then they traveled by helicopter to Hilla, Babil province, about 50 miles south of Baghdad.