GAO: Baghdad Failing To Meet Most Goals

New Report On Iraq Finds Baghdad Hasn't Met 11 Of Its 18 Political And Security Benchmarks

(AP)  Violence in Iraq remains high, fewer Iraqi security forces are capable of acting independently, and the Baghdad legislature has failed to reach major political agreements needed to curb sectarian violence, says a report released Tuesday.

The study by the Government Accountability Office is a blunt assessment that challenges President Bush's findings on the war as he prepares to announce plans for the U.S. military campaign, which has cost the lives of more than 3,700 U.S. troops since it began in 2003.

Earlier this week, Bush said some U.S. forces could be sent home if security across Iraq improves as it has in Anbar province, a former hotbed of Sunni insurgency.

The White House dismissed GAO's findings as a static view of progress in Iraq, despite its successful efforts to temper some of the more minor findings in the report. After receiving substantial resistance from the White House, the GAO determined that Iraq has partially met four out of 18 political and security goals, two more than identified in an earlier draft report.

But GAO stuck with its original contention that only three goals had been achieved while 11 had failed. The goals met include establishing joint security stations in Baghdad, ensuring minority rights in the Iraqi legislature and creating support committees for the Baghdad security plan.

"Everyone was aware that some progress on the benchmarks could be seen on a number of the benchmarks," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "One didn't really have to travel to Iraq to come to that conclusion. I'm not aware that anyone expected the benchmarks to be completed by September."

U.S. Comptroller David Walker said Congress should debate whether U.S. troops are there to fight al Qaeda or if their purpose is to provide security to the general population.

"They're fundamentally different things," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. "I think Congress ought to have a debate . . . what are we going to do and what are going to try to accomplish?"

GAO's findings paint a bleaker view of progress in Iraq than offered by Bush in July and comes at a critical time in the Iraq debate. So far, Republicans have stuck by Bush and staved off Democratic legislation ordering troops home. But many, who have grown uneasy about the unpopularity of the war, say they want to see substantial improvement in Iraq by September.

Next week the top military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, are scheduled to brief Congress.

"While the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, measuring such violence may be difficult since the perpetrator's intent is not clearly known," GAO says in its report. "Other measures of violence, such as the number of enemy-initiated attacks, show that violence has remained high through July 2007."

Republican leaders on Tuesday showed no signs of wavering in their support for Bush.

"The GAO report really amounts to asking someone to kick an 80-yard field goal and criticizing them when they came up 20 or 25 yards short," said House GOP leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters he would like to ensure a long-term U.S. presence in the Middle East to fight al Qaeda and deter aggression from Iran.

"And I hope that this reaction to Iraq and the highly politicized nature of dealing with Iraq this year doesn't end up in a situation where we just bring all the troops back home and thereby expose us, once again, to the kind of attacks we've had here in the homeland or on American facilities," said McConnell.

Democrats said the GAO report showed that Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq was failing because Baghdad was not making the political progress needed to curb sectarian violence.

"No matter what spin we may hear in the coming days, this independent assessment is a failing grade for a policy that simply isn't working," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

The report does not make any substantial policy recommendations, but says future administration reports "would be more useful to the Congress" if they provided more detailed information.

Earlier this year, Bush sent 30,000 extra troops to Iraq to enhance security in Baghdad and Anbar province. In a congressionally mandated progress report released by the White House in July, Bush judged that Baghdad had made satisfactory progress in eight of the 18 benchmarks. In five of those eight areas, GAO determined that Iraq had either failed or made only partial progress.

The disparity is largely due to the stricter standard GAO applied in preparing the report. GAO used a "thumbs up or thumbs down" approach in grading Baghdad, while Bush's assessment looked at whether Iraq was achieving progress. For example, Bush said Iraqi politicians had made satisfactory progress in reviewing its constitution, while GAO ruled they had failed because the process was not complete.

The State Department and Defense Department reviewed the report before its release. Officials interviewed last week, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the study had not been released, said the administration disputed GAO's conclusion that Iraq has failed to provide three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations or to ensure that the security plan will not provide a safe haven for outlaws.

In the final report released Tuesday, GAO marked those two benchmarks as "partially met" and alludes to resistance it received from the Pentagon.

For example, GAO said it found that despite increased military operations in Baghdad, "temporary safe havens still exist due to strong sectarian loyalties and militia infiltration of security forces." The Defense Department countered that the recent troop buildup had significantly reduced the number of safe havens inside Baghdad and in Anbar and Diyala provinces.

Regarding the deployment of the three Iraqi brigades, GAO found that of the 19 Iraqi units supporting Baghdad operations only five had performed well. The remaining units experienced problems with lack of personnel or equipment.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Walker acknowledged that GAO softened its assessment of the two benchmarks but said it did so because of the facts available and not any pressure by the administration.

[red164]

George Bush ''not engaged'' in crucial decisions

Alex Spillius
London Telegraph
Wednesday September 5, 2007

Surprise, surprise Gomer Pile is the Commander and Chief.

[speakinup]

"I support the Bush Iraq policy because I want our nation to be successful and leave Iraq with honor..." didntinhale

"You have truly deluded yourself if you still consider this to be a possibility." FeelFree1

It would appear you are uninformed feelfree1 & tbweb. Would you trust two reporters from the Wall Street Journal who were previously critical of Bush ?

They have a very good and informative article at this URL. Not all pro, not all con, just informative.

http://www3.brookings.edu/fp/research/2007august_iraqreport.pdf

If you want to engage yourself read it, if you want to troll, don''t.

[lars008-2009]

what do you call an ideology that:

kills you if you don''t join it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=82201&ln=eng&txt=islam%20law%20kill%20kaafir

kills you if you leave it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=696&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you don''t do what they tell you to do..

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=6035&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you speak against it%u2026.

http://islamqa.com/index.php?QR=22809&ln=eng

kills anybody that is not a member of it...

http://www.hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/koran5.html

still practices slavery

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=12562&ln=eng&txt=slavery

still practices pagan rituals...

http://answering-islam.org/Silas/pagansources.htm

allows the r a p e of babies and animals...

http://www.homa.org/default.asp?TOCID=2083225445

a. satanic cult???
b. islam???
c. all the above???

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

[lars008-2009]

Posted by MCVet at 06:59 AM : Sep 05, 2007

the war is legal

the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement.....

blame saddam for iraq%u2026%u2026. Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Iraq''s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

Moreover, no international law can prevent the United States from taking actions to protect its vital interests, when it is manifestly clear that there is a choice to be made between law and survival. I believe, however, that such a choice is not presented in the case of Iraq. Indeed, should we decide to proceed, that action can be justified within the framework of international law rather than outside it. In fact, though a new UN resolution may be helpful in building international consensus, the existing resolutions from 1991 are sufficient from a legal standpoint. - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/gore/gore092302sp.html

[mcvet]

hahahahahaha it is not a lie haji girl... try rereading the posts...

shouldn''''t you have also been against gulf war one haji girl???
Posted by lars008 at 03:45 AM : Sep 05, 2007

Would ONE of you Nazi''s PLEASE explain what Iraq had to do with the Attack on 9/11? There wasn''t ONE, NOT ONE, citizen of that country on any of the jets. We attacked a nation that posed NO THREAT to us and we now are faced with a resistence that will NOT go away. You clowns think we''re going to somehow, after FIVE years, manage to make this into some sort of base for America? I got news for you losers... HUMAN NATURE say''s it ain''t going to happen! Sieg Heil Bush.

[lars008-2009]

infidel_us at -- Iraq is all Bush''''''''s failure - its called the Bush Quagmire -- that''''''''s cause he screwed everything up - him - not peolise, not reid - BUSH.
Posted by nyckate at 04:38 PM : Sep 04, 2007

Tell us again how many times you wrote your local congressperson and then prez Bill Clintoon before he signed into LAW the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act...

Tell us again how you stood against the part that reads: "drawdown of defense articles..." and how you so against the very concept of the USA liberating Iraq via a WAR (if necessary)...
Posted by badaxmofo at 04:48 PM : Sep 04, 2007
******

Posted by nyckate at 04:38 PM : Sep 04, 2007

Posted by badaxmofo at 04:48 PM : Sep 04, 2007

and tell us nyckate how you were against gulf war one...
Posted by lars008 at 04:54 PM : Sep 04, 2007
******

lars008 -- *** are you raving on about now??

This much I know - I never said diddley about GUlf 1 - I don''t need to cause Bush'''';s daddy said it all -- there was no way out once we had ground troops in Iraq.

The other thing is that when you bushies neocon ****** resort to outright lies and deceptions you know you''re beat.

That''s right - in a battle of the minds and wits this NYC Gal whupped you good!!
Posted by nyckate at 05:30 PM : Sep 04, 2007

hahahahahaha it is not a lie haji girl... try rereading the posts...

shouldn''t you have also been against gulf war one haji girl???

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

[tbweb]

tbweb/didntinhale,

Re: "I support the Bush Iraq policy because I want our nation to be successful and leave Iraq with honor..."

You have truly deluded yourself if you still consider this to be a possibility.

Posted by FeelFree1 at 02:53 AM : Sep 05, 2007,,,

I haven''t seen didntinhale around these Boards in quite some time, I think you chased him away. LOL Despite your insistence that I am he, I am not, sorry! But be more specific, consider what a possibility, I don''t understand your Post.

[feelfree1]

tbweb/didntinhale,

Re: "I support the Bush Iraq policy because I want our nation to be successful and leave Iraq with honor..."

You have truly deluded yourself if you still consider this to be a possibility.

[sgtrds]

Bush knows that his policy in Iraq is doomed to fail. Still he thinks that if he kicks the inevitable failure forward into the next presidency then he''ll be able to re-write history to say that "I they had only stayed the course I would have been shown to be right", even though he in his heart knows that he is the biggest ****k up in world leadership since Hitler. Bush can try all he likes to re-write history. but the world knows that this is HIS ****k up and his alone. Hen is the single wors6t world leader in history since Hitler ans Hitler would be embarrassed being compare to such an as*shole as Bush.

[tbweb]

You have to take 2 steps back to go one step forward on this Iraq debacle. There is a difference between supporting the Bush Iraq policy because it''s correct and supporting the Bush Iraq policy because the U.S. is in the quicksand now and needs to extract itself! I support the Bush Iraq policy because I want our nation to be successful and leave Iraq with honor, not leave Iraq like the U.S. left Vietnam. The current Swiftboat style TV commercials on Iraq that claim the U.S. should not quit Iraq because they attacked us and will attack us again make me sick, this is an outright lie and deception! Iraq did not attack the U.S. on 9/11 and had nothing to do with the direct terror the U.S. faced at the time. The U.S. should not be in Iraq at all at this point, but since the U.S. is there, we need to deal with the here and now, live in the moment, not in the past. The key point the Bush administration does not seem to be able to come to grips with is that most Americans could care less about Iraq, could care less if it''s good, bad, stable, safe or successful and that progress does not equate to a continued U.S. presence in Iraq, Americans don''t want to be in Iraq at all, under any scenario, under any conditions. What part of s.c.r.e.w Iraq does the Bush administration not understand?

[red164]

He lied in several things the fact that we have such a moronic clown for president who lies so often and so easy or the insult of him thinking we''''re stupid enough to believe his pure BS.
Posted by SgtRDS at 09:19 PM : Sep 04, 2007

He found enough morons like you rands, to buy his load of 9/11 BS; which proves how stupid you happen to be.

[j-whitman]

Machsom Watch...
A group of concerned Isreali grandmothers monitor the checkpoints & report thier findings.... Good links to reports & up to date.

http://www.machsomwatch.org/eng/summariesEng.asp?link=summariesEng&lang=eng

[j-whitman]

good night

[j-whitman]

A brief description of what Machsom Watch does

http://www.thehoot.net/?module=displaystory&story_id=1985&edition_id=60&format=html

[j-whitman]

Isreali Grandmothers concerned about human rights abuses against Palestinians

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dispatch/2004/11/11_471.html

Machsom Watch

http://www.thehoot.net/?module=displaystory&story_id=1985&edition_id=60&format=html

[j-whitman]

Machsom Watch --- A group of Isreali women monitoring the check points..... Take a look at what Palestinians face every single day.

http://www.machsomwatch.org/

[brianbwb-2009]

"They''re fundamentally different things," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. "I think Congress ought to have a debate . . . what are we going to do and what are going to try to accomplish?"

To Hell with all of them, this should have been done before we ever invaded the country, now our children are dead, Iraq is an intractable mess, and we are borrowing against our future generations to put money into the war profiteers'' pockets, and they just get around to discussions.

They all should swing just like Saddam did.

[j-whitman]

You want to solve Terrorism ??? --- Take a serious look at the problem.

http://www.theotherzionists.com/

[j-whitman]

Isreal exerted military domination over the Palistenian people in 1947, They live like pressure in a bottle ever since, a growing population like a building pressure in that bottle....
.. The government of Isreal is locked in this Zionism & refuses to stop decades of causing the problems.