Iraq 'failing half US benchmarks'

Friday, 14 September 2007

Iraq's government has met nine out of 18 benchmarks on governance and security, a White House report says.

The report, delivered to the US Congress, is one of several recent assessments by the US government.

Among the failures, the report mentions militia control over security forces and not enacting a law on sharing oil resources among communities.

On Thursday, President George W Bush said the number of US troops would be reduced but strategy was successful.

He said he had accepted the advice of the US commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, who gave a progress report to Congress earlier this week.

The plan would take troop numbers back to their level before Mr Bush ordered a "surge" at the start of this year.

The Democrats had called for a change of course, accusing the president of giving no plan on how to end the war.

Only improvement

Based on data available as of 1 September 2007, the report says "the Iraqis have made satisfactory progress since January 2007 on nine benchmarks".

It suggests improvement in only one area compared with the initial assessment in July - allowing former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to hold government positions.

Among the targets met by the Iraqi government were:

* forming a constitutional review committee and completing the review

* enacting and implementing legislation on de-Baathification

* legislation in semi-autonomous regions

But failure was registered in meeting benchmarks related to:

* the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources

* increasing the number of Iraqi security forces able to operate independently

* ensuring that Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against foreign forces

In a statement, the White House said that even though Iraqis had failed to pass key national legislation, "the objectives of such laws are in some ways already being achieved" in practice.

Oil revenues, for instance, were being shared equally, it said, adding this was what the benchmarks were intended to produce "even if the formal benchmarks themselves have not been met".

And it said that US efforts in Iraq extended far beyond the 18 benchmarks.

"We continue to work with the Iraqis to establish the strategic environment in which security and meaningful reconciliation can develop and take root - in ways not easily measured by these benchmarks," the statement said.