Hearing on GAO Iraq Report today at 2:00 pm in SFRC

[TayTay]

IRAQ: AN INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT
HEARING
before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Time: 2:00 PM
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Kerry


Witnesses:

+The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC

Watch the hearing at: http://foreign.senate.gov/hearing.html

or on C-Span 3 at: http://www.c-span.org/

discussion of this report and what it means for Magic September:

USA today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-08-29-gao-iraq_N.htm

MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20518951/

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14060024

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

Talking Points Memo: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com//horsesmouth/2007/08/state_departmen.php

This is the first hearing in September to address the issue of the surge and whether or not it is working. The GAO Report itself has come under fire from the White House and the Pentagon because it specifically stated (prior to revisions of course) that the US has met only 3 of 18 benchmarks set back in the spring. This is a chance to hear from the GAO Comptroller about what went into the independent assessment of the situation in Iraq in advance of the White House spin on the Patraeus Report, which comes out next week.

[TayTay]

1. The GAO Report is an independent look at Iraq

and was mandated by the Congress in legislation that passed in the Spring. A story in the Washington Post last week talked about this report, what it means and why it's contents were leaked to the press a week before the official release.

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.

The person who provided the draft report to The Post said it was being conveyed from a government official who feared that its pessimistic conclusions would be watered down in the final version -- as some officials have said happened with security judgments in this month's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. Congress requested the GAO report, along with an assessment of the Iraqi security forces by an independent commission headed by retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, to provide a basis for comparison with the administration's scorecard. The Jones report is also scheduled for delivery next week.

Asked to comment on the GAO draft, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are there on the ground every day in Iraq, and it's important to wait to hear what they have to say." He disputed any suggestion that the July White House assessment did not consider all internal views, noting that it resulted from "a lengthy and far-reaching process throughout the State and Defense departments and other agencies."

Johndroe emphasized that "while we've all seen progress in some areas, especially on the security front, it's not surprising the GAO would make this assessment, given the difficult congressionally mandated measurement they had to follow."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082902434.html?hpid=topnews">Washington Post, Aug 30, 2007

[cali]

2. What's the point?

Just a bunch of complicit bloody handed traitor democrats.

[TayTay]

3. Because someone needs to do it

And who is watching the watchers anyway?