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Bush admits iraq war progress negligible { June 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.star-telegram.com/national_news/story/167826.htmlhttp://www.star-telegram.com/national_news/story/167826.html
Posted on Fri, Jul. 13, 2007
House votes to withdraw troops
By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Iraqi government is achieving only spotty military and political progress, the Bush administration conceded Thursday in an assessment that war critics quickly seized on as confirmation of their dire warnings. Within hours, the House voted to withdraw U.S. troops by spring.
The House measure passed 223-201 in the Democratic-controlled chamber despite a veto threat from President Bush, who has ruled out any change in war policy before September.
"The security situation in Iraq remains complex and extremely challenging," the 25-page administration report concluded.
The economic picture is uneven, it added, and the government has not yet enacted vital political reconciliation legislation.
As many as 80 suicide bombers per month cross into the country from Syria, said the interim assessment, which is to be followed by a fuller accounting in September from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in the region.
"I believe we can succeed in Iraq, and I know we must," Bush said at a White House news conference at which he stressed the interim nature of the report.
He portrayed the war as a showdown with al Qaeda and warned that any move toward withdrawal now would risk "mass killings on a horrific scale."
Bush says he will run war
Describing a document produced by his administration at Congress' insistence, he said there was satisfactory progress by the Iraqi government toward meeting eight of 18 so-called benchmarks, unsatisfactory progress on eight more and mixed results on the others.
To his critics -- including an increasing number of Republicans -- he said bluntly, "I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding the troops."
Democrats saw it differently.
A few hours after Bush's remarks, Democratic leaders engineered passage of legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops to begin within 120 days, and to be completed by April 1, 2008. The measure envisions a limited residual force to train Iraqis, protect U.S. assets and fight al Qaeda and other terrorists.
The vote generally followed party lines: 219 Democrats and four Republicans in favor, and 191 Republicans and 10 Democrats opposed.
"The report makes clear that not even the White House can conclude there has been significant progress," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Republicans sided with Bush -- at least for now. The bill "undermines Gen. Petraeus, undermines the mission he has to make America and Iraq safe," said the House GOP leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio. "What we have here is not leadership, it's negligence."
This report includes material from The New York Times.
Online: White House interim progress report on Iraq, tinyurl.com/26pavg
AT A GLANCE
The latest news in the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mixed review on Baghdad government: In an interim assessment, the Bush administration says the Iraqi government is achieving only spotty military and political progress.
House votes for troop withdrawal: Within hours, the House voted 223-201 to withdraw U.S. troops by spring. President Bush has ruled out any change in war policy before September.
BENCHMARKS
Congress set 18 benchmarks for Iraq's government to meet for political, military and economic reforms. On Thursday, the Bush administration rated Iraq's progress "unsatisfactory" on eight benchmarks, "satisfactory" on eight others and said it was too early to assess the final two. The "unsatisfactory" ratings below underscore the difficulty in ending sectarian violence and division, and reducing the U.S. troop presence.
Unsatisfactory
1. New oil law
WHY IT MATTERS: The law would set forth how Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups would share the country's oil wealth.
It's crucial to reunifying the country and to attracting international investment needed to modernize Iraq's oil industry and boost output.
REALITY CHECK: No firm compromise is in sight. The draft law is bogged down in parliament as Sunnis and Kurds fear that the Shiite majority will cut them out of a fair share of oil revenue.
2. De-Baathification law
WHY IT MATTERS: Dealing with former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party is crucial to winning Sunni support for a democratic Iraq.
REALITY CHECK: Dominant Shiite lawmakers have rejected a U.S.-backed Iraqi law that would grant amnesty to former Baathists. No other law is seen soon.
3. Increasing the number of Iraqi units capable of operating independently
WHY IT MATTERS: As President Bush has said, "As Iraqi forces step up, U.S. forces will step down."
REALITY CHECK: U.S. commanders say Iraqi forces are not at full strength and training is slowed by problems including desertions and equipment shortages.
U.S. estimates say the forces could be months -- or even years -- away from operating effectively without American reinforcements.
4. Ensuring that security forces are providing even-handed enforcement of the law
WHY IT MATTERS: Most Iraqis have little or no confidence in the police, which hurts the ability of civilian authorities to establish and maintain order.
REALITY CHECK: Establishing professional national and local police forces is far from completion.
5. Providing Iraqi commanders with the authority to execute a security plan and to make tactical and operational decisions
WHY IT MATTERS: The goal of military and security forces without sectarian and political influences is crucial to the government's ability to confront insurgents and militias.
REALITY CHECK: Still too much political influence by the country's power brokers and sectarian behavior in the ranks. That won't change soon.
6. Ensuring that Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the security forces
WHY IT MATTERS: A government and parliament can't be credible with Iraqis if they pursue sectarian or other narrow agendas.
REALITY CHECK: Anecdotal evidence suggests that the government's approach with the security forces has not been even-handed, and Sunni legislators have made baseless claims against the police.
Unsatisfactory with some progress
7. Reducing the level of sectarian violence and eliminating militia control of security forces
WHY IT MATTERS: Sectarian violence has been a major reason several million Iraqis have fled Iraq or have been displaced within the country. It also impedes U.S. efforts to promote national reconciliation.
REALITY CHECK: Militias still hold influence over the Shiite-led security forces. Overall violence showed some declines after the launch of a U.S.-led Baghdad security crackdown in February, but bloodshed has risen again in recent weeks.
8. Law to establish an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law and date for provincial elections
WHY IT MATTERS: Timely and fair elections are a key step toward a democratic Iraq.
REALITY CHECK: The government has made good progress toward creating a commission, but little progress has been made on the other benchmark components.
SATISFACTORY
Forming a Constitutional Review Committee then completing the constitutional review.
Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semiautonomous regions.
Establishing supporting political, media, economic and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.
Providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.
Ensuring that the Baghdad security plan will not provide a haven for outlaws, regardless of sectarian or political affiliation, as Bush says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged to do.
Establishing all of the planned joint security stations in neighborhoods across Baghdad.
Ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.
Allocating and spending $10 billion in Iraqi revenue for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.
TOO EARLY TO ASSESS
Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.
Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq.
Sources: The Associated Press, Cox Newspapers and Star-Telegram research
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