USA/FILE: A U.S. Congressional report says Iraq's government has made little political progress and had mixed results on security

A U.S. Congressional report says Iraq's government has made little political progress and had mixed results on security. The report comes just days before the White House is expecting a report from U.S. Iraq military commander General David Petraeus. A day after U.S. President George W. Bush visited Anbar province and struck an upbeat tone for restoring order in Iraq, a U.S. congressional report on Tuesday (September 4, 2007) said "violence remains high" in Iraq, with little political progress and mixed results on security . The Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent investigative arm of the Congress, said Iraq had failed to meet 11 of 18 political and military goals set by Congress last May, such as reducing sectarian violence and passing laws on oil revenue sharing. Iraq met three benchmarks and partially met another four. David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office, said the least amount of progress had been made on the political front. "One of the whole ideas about the surge was to enhance security in order to provide additional breathing room in order to make political progress," Walker added. According to the GAO report, the number of daily attacks on civilian populations was consistent between the months of February and July 2007 despite Bush's addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq this year. Iraq's government had not met a number of political goals either according to the report. The area of greatest concern is the lack of progress on de-Ba'athification legislation that could promote greater Sunni participation in the national government. Bush, on an unannounced visit to Iraq on Monday (September 3, 2007), pointed to what he called recent security successes in Anbar province and raised the prospect of fewer U.S. forces if gains continued. But he said withdrawals could only happen from a position of strength. The GAO document was one of three reports ordered by Congress that will be examined by lawmakers this month as they resume debate on the unpopular war. The White House will submit its own assessment by Sept. 15, after testimony to Congress next week by U.S. Iraq commander David Petraeus and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker.

ITN Source | September 5, 2007

Tags:. .position. .military. .violence. .raised. .arm