By DPA
Washington : Most of the 18 goals set by the US Congress for progress in Iraq remain unmet, according to a much-anticipated congressional report quoted by the media Thursday.
The draft report, produced by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, contradicts a more optimistic version released by the White House in July measuring the same 18 goals, according to The New York Times and Washington Post.
The GAO report, which is due on Congress next Tuesday, and another report from the top US general in Iraq and US ambassador in Iraq due by September 15, hold political significance as Congress struggles to hold the White House to benchmark goals since the addition of 30,000 US troops this year.
The Democrat majority wants to force a gradual draw-down of US troops in Iraq, arguing that the Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has failed to use the time to reconcile feuding ethnic and religious factions in parliament and across the country.
The GAO draft found that three of 18 benchmarks were met, while the White House interim report in July found that eight of 18 standards were achieved.
According to the draft, Iraq has met just two of nine security benchmarks. It disagrees with the White House version that sectarian violence had decreased since the troop surge, saying the average number of daily attacks against civilians remained about the same – 25 in February versus 26 in July.
The third goal the GAO said was met was the protection of the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature.
More than a dozen members of al-Maliki’s cabinet have resigned in recent months, and an agreement hailed as a power-sharing move earlier this week appears to have already fallen through.
Sunni parties charge that al-Maliki’s Shiite majority are using their newfound power to wreak revenge on their former Sunni oppressors. Meanwhile, Shiites are warring among themselves for the upper hand.
The sources who leaked the report to the Post said they did so because it must pass muster at the Pentagon for security reasons before being released on Tuesday, and they were concerned that some of the GAO’s conclusions could be watered down.