Do Any Of You WONDER WHY-Someone Leaked Draft Copy Of GAO Report?

[kpete]

And this, from Kevin Drum, was also a very interesting detail:

One more interesting thing: the Post actually explains why someone leaked a draft copy of the report to them: the leaker was afraid it would get watered down before final publication and wanted to make sure that someone knew what the GAO really thinks. Considering what happens to most reports that go through the DoD wringer, I’d say that shows considerable foresight.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_08/011966.php


Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals
GAO Draft at Odds With White House

By Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 30, 2007; Page A01

Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082902434.html?hpid=topnews

[BOSSHOG]

1. White House at odds with the truth. Once Again.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Lying is not just a habit of the Junta...

It is a hobby.

[unhappycamper]

3. I must disagree with you TechBear.

It is a way of life.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. I concede your point

:hi:

[havocmom]

6. And possibly a disorder that lays at the genetic level for most of them

They simply can't deal with reality, so they 'create reality' as Rove once put it. Nice phrase for a man who is such a liar he can't even call a lie a lie.

Yep, gotta be genetic. Their mendacity must be at a cellular level.

[Cha]

9. It's in their

DNA..no doubt they've spawned a whole passel of liars on the world.

[havocmom]

4. There are LOTS of public servants who really serve the PUBLIC

and not the ruinous bastards appointed by the cheney/bush junta to take America down.

There are a lot of very honorable people in public service who understand the importance of what they do. They are mad as hell about junta appointed management doing everything they can to prevent public servants from serving the public. There are bound to be some leaks of real info when so many decent people see so much corruption and sabotage in their agencies.

:patriot: We salute the courage and dedication they show in service to our country.

[pacalo]

12. If BushCheneyCo can make up their own rules, why can't the GAO (& others)?

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. No doubt that there are brave people out in the field. Kindred spirits.

If I had a billion dollars to give away, I'd find every one of these whistleblowers and make sure that they were not financially harmed by their self-sacrifice.

[stillcool]

8. pressure, pressure, pressure...

What Is Holding Up the Delivery
of the Long-Awaited Iraqi Oil Law?
By Munir Chalabi *
Z Net
August 22, 2007

As deadline after deadline and benchmark after benchmark passes and with all the pressure imposed by the IMF, the US Administration, the US oil lobby and International Oil Companies (IOCs) on the Iraqi government, the oil law, against all the odds, refuses to be born.

Despite all the attempts by the Occupation's Governing Council (GC) and its appointed puppet, Allawi's Government, as well as the efforts by both of the elected governments, several US/IMF deadlines have passed including one in December 2006, then in March, May and the latest one in July 2007, but the draft of the law has not even been presented officially to the Federal Parliament in Baghdad.

In parallel with all these deadlines and benchmarks, we have seen several versions of the drafts for the new Iraqi oil law leaked one way or another to the international press. This includes one in June 2006, another on January 15, then February 15, June 25, and finally July 3, 2007. Many international political analysts and oil experts cannot comprehend how such unprecedented pressure can fail to produce results.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2007/0822holdupoil.htm

Iraq oil law up in Sept., official says
Posted on : 2007-08-16 | Author : General News Editor
News Category : World

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) A top official in the Iraqi Embassy in Washington expects the oil law to top Parliament's agenda when lawmakers return to session at the start of next month.

Ghaleb El-Anbaki, third secretary and head of the Iraqi Embassy's political affairs department, told UPI the oil debate is "a sensitive issue," one related to history and entwined with the country's future.

"This will come up on the first item on the agenda of the next session of Parliament," he said, adding the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraq's central government have compromises on "technical" issues, such as sharing power.

There has been no announcement on any deal, however, as Parliament is on recess this month. The oil law has been negotiated for more than a year but is stuck on issues such as the extent of federalism in controlling the exploration, development and production of the third-largest reserves in the world. Also unresolved is the extent foreign and private companies will be allowed into the sector.
Ben Lando, UPI Energy Editor
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Print Source :
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/94429.html

[pacalo]

10. This is just one example of why this boy king should have been impeached a long time ago...

This paragraph is written with nonchalence, as though this administration's whitewash procedure has become the standard for the White House:

A GAO spokesman declined to comment on the report before it is released. The 69-page draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is still undergoing review at the Defense Department, which may ask that parts of it be classified or request changes in its conclusions. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, normally submits its draft reports to relevant agencies for comment but makes its own final judgments. The office has published more than 100 assessments of various aspects of the U.S. effort in Iraq since May 2003.

[rucky]

11. OK, Congress... Petraeus is going to tell you a story.

and your actual facts are in a leaked GAO report. You don't even have to pain yourself to read it, because the Washington Post summarized it for you. And you don't even have to unfold the newspaper, because it's on the front freakin' page. If you want, I could make a PowerPoint presentation out of it for you, with bullet points and pretty pictures, m'kay?

[paparush]

13. 16% Passing - Hey, that's how Bush made it through Yale...

[rateyes]

14. Are you saying that George Bush lied to the American people?

Huh. Whodathunkit?

[Arkansas Granny]

15. I suppose these the same 18 benchmarks that they reported

about in July. At that time, they said that 8 of them were "satisfactory".

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A report on U.S.-set benchmarks for Iraq shows "satisfactory progress" in eight areas, while highlighting that there's "more work to do" in other areas, President Bush said Thursday.

"Of the 18 benchmarks Congress asked us to measure, we can report that satisfactory progress is being made in eight areas," Bush said during a White House news conference.


http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/12/us.iraq/index.html


Even with that report many people thought that the results sounded a little rosy and now I guess we know why.