Administration Shaving Yardstick for Iraq Gains

[sabra]

Source: WP

The Iraqi government is unlikely to meet any of the political and security goals or timelines President Bush set for it in January when he announced a major shift in U.S. policy, according to senior administration officials closely involved in the matter. As they prepare an interim report due next week, officials are marshaling alternative evidence of progress to persuade Congress to continue supporting the war.

In a preview of the assessment it must deliver to Congress in September, the administration will report that Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province are turning against the group al-Qaeda in Iraq in growing numbers; that sectarian killings were down in June; and that Iraqi political leaders managed last month to agree on a unified response to the bombing of a major religious shrine, officials said.

Those achievements are markedly different from the benchmarks Bush set when he announced his decision to send tens of thousands of additional troops to Iraq. More troops, Bush said, would enable the Iraqis to proceed with provincial elections this year and pass a raft of power-sharing legislation. In addition, he said, the government of President Nouri al-Maliki planned to "take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November."

Congress expanded on Bush's benchmarks, writing 18 goals into law as part of the war-funding measure it passed in the spring.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR2007070701274.html?hpid=topnews

[rpannier]

1. At the rate it's going the only 'benchmark' they'll have to meet is...

Does the country still exist...

For this administration the only benchmark they care about is...Is Iraq still pumping oil and making them and their friends wealthier?

[MidwestTransplant]

5. "does the country still have oil" will be the last one.

[bluestateguy]

2. Nobody has yet been able to give me a non-gobbledygook explanation of what a "benchmark" is

The word sounds like some esoteric concept invented at a corporate training retreat.

[wtmusic]

3. A reference

against which progress is compared. All there is to it.

[daleo]

4. These are some pathetic arguments for progress in Iraq

This is the best they can come up with, after more than a trillion dollars and countless thousands of lives?

[CatholicEdHead]

6. Ok, it is Sunday morning

I read the headline as "Administration shaving stick for yak gains"