Bush aides: Iraq report 'bleak'

2007-08-30 22:00

Washington - The Bush administration rejected a bleak draft survey on Thursday by a government auditor on political and military advances in Iraq, saying it set criteria for judging progress far too high.

The White House and State Department hit back after leaks emerged of a report by the GAO (Government Accountability Office), saying Iraq had failed to meet all but three of 18 benchmarks laid down by Congress.

The report emerged at a vital moment of the Iraq war debate, as the White House and anti-war Democrats crank up political heat ahead of a showdown over President George W Bush's troop surge strategy in Congress next month.

White House deputy spokesperson Dana Perino took pains to differentiate the GAO survey from the president's own report on the 30 000-strong troop hike in Iraq, which he must provide to Congress by September 15.

"The president must report on whether or not the Iraqis are making significant progress towards achieving the benchmarks in Iraq," Perino told reporters.

"The GAO is asked by Congress to say whether or not they have met them," she said, adding that the "bar was set so high" it was all but impossible for the Iraqis to meet the standards.

'Different standards'

But Nancy Pelosi, Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, accused Bush of "stubbornly" refusing to accept things were going badly in Iraq.

"He insists that our soldiers sacrifice even more, and taxpayers spend billions more dollars for an Iraqi government incapable or unwilling to institute reforms required by the president himself," said Pelosi.

A law passed by Congress earlier this year requiring a report on the surge strategy gives Bush wide latitude.

It says the president must state what revisions are necessary in US strategy, if he assesses progress towards any benchmarks is "unsatisfactory".

The GAO is required by the law to assess Iraq's progress in meeting benchmarks on political reconciliation, constitutional reform, building security forces, challenging sectarian militia and sharing oil revenues.

"I would expect that if you apply different standards to the benchmarks, you might come out with some different conclusions," State Department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey said on Thursday.

Agencies divided

The GAO report concludes that efforts by the Iraqi government to meet key legislation and reconstruction efforts are stalled, the Washington Post said.

Attacks on civilians have not ebbed and the Iraqi security forces have grown no more competent, the draft said, adding that US agencies were divided on whether violence had been reduced by the surge.

The Government Accountability Office, formerly known as the General Accounting Office, is the non-partisan auditing branch of the US Congress that oversees the performance and accountability of the US government.

- AFP