TPM Muckraker: So Much For "Benchmarks" (Not Worth The Paper They're Printed On)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003364.php

So Much For "Benchmarks"
By Spencer Ackerman - June 6, 2007, 11:33 AM
In the middle of a Los Angeles Times profile of Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, comes news that the Maliki government almost certainly won't meet any of the political "benchmarks" that President Bush said he would hold Iraq to in his January 10 speech announcing the surge:

Maliki is the man U.S. officials are counting on to bring Iraq's civil war under control, yet he seems unable to break the government's deadlock.

Even Maliki's top political advisor, Sadiq Rikabi, says he doubts the prime minister will be able to win passage of key legislation ardently sought by U.S. officials, including a law governing the oil industry and one that would allow more Sunni Arabs to gain government jobs.

"We hope to achieve some of them, but solving the Iraqi problems and resolving the different challenges in the three months would need a miracle," Rikabi said.

Deadlines for most of the "benchmarks" have come and gone. On January 31, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote to Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) to clarify what the benchmarks Bush referred to actually are, and some of their deadlines were already obsolete: the Iraqi parliament was supposed to have completed its review of possible constitutional changes by January. Instead, due to ongoing sectarian rancor, May 15 became the new date by which the committee needed to assemble proposed changes to Iraq's constitution. It didn't happen. Similarly, May 31 was the date by which Iraq needed to pass a law clarifying how Baghdad will distribute oil revenue. That didn't happen, either.

On January 10, President Bush said, "America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced." Ribaki's statement to the Los Angeles Times's Ned Parker creates pressure on Bush to explain whether there will be any penalty for not meeting the benchmarks. If there isn't, it remains to be seen what action Congress will take, particularly after it backed away last month from linking funding for the war to a timetable for withdrawal.

MORE

[mike_c]

1. and this surprises anyone...?

The "benchmarks" are nothing more than a smokescreen behind which congress hides to avoid ITS responsibility to end the war against Iraq. They have exactly the same amount of real substance as the smoke and mirrors that they represent.