Iraqis Missed Most Goals

USA Today
August 30, 2007
Pg. 7

Iraqis Have Missed Most Of Congress' Goals, GAO Says

Report Says 13 Of 18 Benchmarks Unfulfilled

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Congressional auditors have determined that the Iraqis have failed to meet the majority of political and military goals laid out by lawmakers to assess President Bush's Iraq war strategy.

The Government Accountability Office will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure the effect of the U.S. troop increase in Iraq are unfulfilled. It comes ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline for Bush to report on the situation eight months after he announced the plan, three officials familiar with the matter said.

The officials, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the report has not been made public, also said the administration is preparing a case to argue that Congress ordered the GAO to use unfair, "all or nothing" standards when compiling the document.

The GAO is to give a classified briefing about its findings to lawmakers today. It is not clear when its unclassified report will be released, but it is due Sept. 1 amid a series of assessments called for in January legislation that authorized Bush's plan to send 30,000 more troops to Iraq. There are now more than 160,000 troops in Iraq.

Among those Bush will hear from are the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary Robert Gates; the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus; and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker.

"While we've seen progress in some areas, it would not surprise me that the GAO would make this assessment given the difficult congressionally mandated measurement they had to follow," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council.

The GAO is expected to find that the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has met only modest security goals for Baghdad.

The White House declined to comment on the specific findings of the GAO report.

An internal White House memo says the report will claim the Iraqis have failed on at least 13 benchmarks. It says the criteria lawmakers set for the report allow no room to report progress, only absolute success or failure. The memo argues that the GAO will not give a "true picture" of the situation because the standards were "designed to lock in failure," according to portions of the document read to the AP by an official who has seen it.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Geoff Morrell previewed the administration's response. "The standard the GAO has set is far more stringent," he said. "Some might argue it's impossible to meet."