US failing 'vast majority' of goals in Iraq

An independent Congressional report casts doubt on the credibility of President Bush's repeated assertions that his "surge" strategy is working in Iraq. A leaked draft of the report by the Government Accountability Office,(GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, said the Bush administration had failed to meet the vast majority of military and political benchmarks set by Congress earlier this year. The GAO says that 13 of the 18 benchmarks -- which include military goals, such as the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over, as well as measuring whether the Iraqi government has made progress towards political reconciliation between Shia and Sunni Muslims -- had not been met. Its conclusions are at odds with a similar exercise carried out by the White House in June that was optimistic, reporting progress in several areas, albeit limited. The GAO report is one of a number of official assessments of the Iraq War over the next month. The GAO report, due to be published next week, is still in draft form and the Pentagon is trying to have some of its negative conclusions revised. The White House reported in June satisfactory progress on eight benchmarks and mixed results on two others. The benchmarks are enshrined in legislation. The Associated Press reported that an internal White House memo, prepared in advance to respond to the GAO, said the report will not present a "true picture" of the situation in Iraq because the standards were "designed to lock-in failure."