Iraqi children look at a U.S. soldier
patrolling in the al-Allawi neighbourhood in central Baghdad. The Iraqi
government has only reached 7 of its 18 political and security goals U.S.
Congress set in May, said a newly-released report on Tuesday. (Xinhua/AFP
Photo) Photo
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Washington,
Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government has only reached 7 of its 18 political
and security goals U.S. Congress set in May, said a newly-released report on
Tuesday.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO),
known as "investigative arm of Congress," made a less negative assessment on
Baghdad's performance than what it did in the initial draft released late August
that Iraq had failed all but three goals.
The goals that were met include establishing joint
security stations in Baghdad, ensuring minority rights in the Iraqi legislature
and creating support committees for the Baghdad security plan, said the report.
After the draft was rejected by the White House for
it setting "the bar too high for Iraq," the GAO determined that another four
Congressional mandated benchmarks had been partially met.
However, the GAO insisted the Iraqi government had
failed in reaching a number of goals such as reducing sectarian violence and
passing laws on oil revenue sharing.
"Of particular concern is the lack of progress on
de-Ba'athification legislation that could promote greater Sunni participation in
the national government and comprehensive hydrocarbon legislation that would
distribute Iraq's vast oil wealth," it said.
The report came as Congress started hearings to
assess the political and military progress in Iraq.
"Overall key legislation (of Iraq) has not been
passed, violence remains high and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government
will spend 10 billion U.S. dollars in reconstruction funds," said U.S.
Comptroller General David Walker at the hearing.
He said "average daily attacks against civilians have
remained unchanged from February to July 2007" despite the augmented U.S.
military in Iraq.
The GAO has published more than 100 assessments of
various aspects of the U.S. effort in Iraq since May 2003 when the war began.
Apart from the GAO report, another two on Iraqi
security, respectively from an independent commission set up by Congress and the
White House, are expected to go public later this month and fuel the contention
on U.S. military deployment in Iraq.
After the summer break of Congress was over on
Monday, the Democratic lawmakers were seen to set the stage for another bid to
compel troop withdrawals, while their Republican fellows have to decide whether
to stand firm with the White House's war policy or bow to the public demand on a
definite timetable to bring troops home from Iraq.
Washington, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- A
newly-released Congressional report saying Baghdad had failed most political and
security goals did not show the whole picture, a White House official said one
Tuesday.
The report by the U.S. Government Accountability
Office (GAO) said the Iraqi government had only reached seven of its 18
political and security goals the U.S. Congress set in May.
But the White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the
report "takes a static view of progress in Iraq," and it only determined if the
Congressional benchmarks had been met or not, but not assess the progress.
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