Bush reports progress in Iraq

The Baltimore Sun

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said tht the United States can still succeed in Iraq and that it would be September, at the earliest, before he considers changing course, as the White House issued a mixed report yesterday on progress in Iraq.

The interim report's conclusions, many of which had been leaked in advance, offered glimmers of hope that the recent troop escalation is producing what Bush called "measurable progress" on the security front. Among the positive signs were a reduction in sectarian violence and a decrease in suicide attacks in May and June, a period that did not include one of the deadliest suicide bombings of the war, which killed more than 130 people this week north of Baghdad.

At the same time, the report, designed to convey Bush's judgment on whether progress was being made in 18 categories, was critical of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. It graded Iraq's leaders "unsatisfactory" on a range of benchmarks, including disarming militias; passing a law to ensure equitable sharing of oil revenues among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds; setting dates for provincial elections; and increasing the number of Iraqi security forces that can operate independently of U.S. forces.

Iraq still lacks "the national political will or 'vision'" to reconcile its warring factions, the report concluded.

In perhaps the most blunt White House acknowledgment to date of American failures in Iraq, the report painted a dismal picture of life for ordinary Iraqis more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion. "Citizens nationwide complain about government corruption and the lack of essential services, such as electricity, fuel supply, sewer, water, health, and sanitation."

The report noted that Iraq's government has failed to make needed investments to increase production of oil, the country's most valuable resource.

Failure to secure Iraq's borders is allowing 50 to 80 suicide bombers per month to enter, mainly from Syria, the report said. Since January, nearly 280 suicide attacks have killed about 5,500 people, "mostly innocent Iraqis going about their daily lives."

Iran is now training, funding and equipping both Shiite and Sunni Arab groups, the report said.

Republican John W. Warner of Virginia, an influential member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was "disappointed" by the Iraqi government's failure to meet "critical political benchmarks" since the troop "surge" began. "That government is simply not providing leadership worthy of the considerable sacrifice of our forces, and this has to change immediately," he said.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer described the Bush administration assessment as "nothing short of chilling." A statement issued by the Maryland Democrat's office called the report "nothing more than the president's stay-the-course strategy repackaged."

Democrats said a new U.S. intelligence report which concluded that al-Qaida has regrouped and has regained a level of capability not seen since 2001 is further evidence that Bush's Iraq policy has made the United States less secure.

Bush countered that al-Qaida "is weaker today than [it] would have been" because of U.S. efforts to track down its leaders.

Because they are "still dangerous," Bush added, it is important for the United States to "stay on the offense" in Afghanistan, Iraq and "anywhere else we find them."

At a morning news conference in the White House briefing room, Bush acknowledged that the Iraqi government has "much more work to do." But he called it "not surprising that political progress is lagging," since sectarian violence has yet to be tamed.

Bush said he was encouraged by gains in providing security to parts of Baghdad and especially to Anbar province, where local Sunni sheiks have joined U.S. forces to battle insurgents. He said he would wait until Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, provides an updated progress report in September before making any decisions about "the way forward."

Facing increasing pressure from Congress, including members of his party, for diplomatic action, he announced that he was sending Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East early next month for talks with U.S. allies.

The president again urged Congress to give his troop buildup more time to work, calling it "the best opportunity" for an eventual U.S. pullout that won't turn Iraq over to "terrorists and extremists."

Bush is likely to get some breathing room. Deliberations in the Senate this week on measures designed to force a change in U.S. strategy indicated that Bush's critics lack the votes to require a U.S. troop withdrawal to begin.

A measure that would start a drawdown of U.S. forces within 120 days was approved yesterday by the House, which passed a similar proposal earlier this year. Even if the measure managed to gain the 60 votes needed for passage in the Senate, it would face a certain Bush veto.

The House bill was approved 223-201, with all of Maryland's representatives but Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett voting in favor of the measure.

In the face of sometimes-hostile questioning from reporters, Bush said that after he leaves office he wants to be able to look back on his Iraq policy and say that he "made decisions based upon principle, not based upon politics."

David Gregory of NBC News asked why people should not conclude that Bush is either "stubborn" or "in denial" to continue his current strategy after he was reportedly advised last fall that the current Iraqi government could never govern the country. Bush replied, with a tight smile, that he made a "realistic" decision to boost U.S. troop strength to counter the sectarian violence raging in Iraq, rather than deciding to pull back and risk further "chaos and violence."

Helen Thomas, the dean of the White House press corps, wanted to know if Bush understood that "you brought the al-Qaida into Iraq." Another reporter challenged Bush to provide evidence to back up his assertion that "the same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on Sept. 11, and that's why what happens in Iraq matters to the security here at home."

The president said that while those who carried out the Sept. 11 plot are dead, the members of al-Qaida in Iraq, which was constituted after the U.S. invasion and which the Bush administration blames for some of the deadliest bombings in that country, had "sworn allegiance" to Osama bin Laden and therefore need to be "taken seriously."

Terrorism analysts have accused the Bush administration of distorting ties between the two groups. Rand Beers, a former National Security Council staff member, said it was "far too simplistic" to reduce the sectarian violence in Iraq to a conflict against al-Qaida.

The new White House report called al-Qaida in Iraq a major "accelerant" of the violence and estimated that 80 percent of the suicide bombers in Iraq are foreign fighters. It predicted that al-Qaida in Iraq would try to step up its attacks in the period leading up to Petraeus' report in September.

paul.west@baltsun.com

Progress report

Here is how the Bush administration describes progress in Iraq in its initial report to Congress:

Satisfactory:

Forming a Constitutional Review Committee and completing the review.

Passing 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 give a safe haven to outlaws, regardless of sectarian or political affiliation.

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 revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.

Unsatisfactory, with some progress:

Reducing the level of sectarian violence and eliminating militia control of local security.

Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities and a date for provincial elections.

Unsatisfactory:

Enacting and implementing legislation on "de-Baathification."

Passing and carrying out legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of energy resources to the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients.

Providing Iraqi commanders with authority to execute this plan and to make decisions, in consultation with U.S commanders, without political intervention, to include the authority to pursue all extremists, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

Ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing evenhanded enforcement of the law.

Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.

Ensuring that Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces.

Too early to assess:

Adopting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.

Adopting and carrying out 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.

[Associated Press]

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