GAO draft: Iraq failing on goals
WASHINGTON – Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.
The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmarks report the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.
The draft provides a harsh assessment of the tactical effects of the current U.S.-led counteroffensive to secure Baghdad. “While the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, U.S. agencies differ on whether such violence has been reduced,” it states. While there have been fewer attacks against U.S. forces, it notes, the number of attacks against Iraqi civilians remains unchanged. It also finds that “the capabilities of Iraqi security forces have not improved.”
“Overall,” the report concludes, “key legislation has not been passed, violence remains high, and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion in reconstruction funds,” as promised.
A GAO spokesman declined to comment on the report before it is released. The 69-page draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is still undergoing review at the Defense Department, which may ask that parts of it be classified or request changes in its conclusions.
The person who provided the draft report to the Post said it was being conveyed from a government official who feared that its pessimistic conclusions would be watered down in the final version – as some officials have said happened with security judgments in this month’s National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.Asked to comment on the GAO draft, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that “General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are there on the ground every day in Iraq and it’s important to wait to hear what they have to say.” He disputed any suggestion that the July White House assessment did not consider all internal views, noting that it resulted from “a lengthy and far-reaching process throughout the State and Defense departments and other agencies.”
Johndroe emphasized that “while we’ve all seen progress in some areas, especially on the security front, it’s not surprising the GAO would make this assessment, given the difficult congressionally mandated measurement they had to follow.”
President Bush signed legislation in May that requires him to submit by Sept. 15 an assessment of whether the government of Iraq is “achieving progress” toward the benchmarks. The interim July report determined that satisfactory progress was being made toward eight of the 18 benchmarks, most of them on the security front. It found unsatisfactory progress toward eight others and presented a mixed picture on the remaining two.