By Mike McCarthy, DPA
Washington : US President George W. Bush met his top generals at the Pentagon ahead of crucial reports in the coming weeks assessing the progress made in Iraq under his revised strategy, which included a surge in US forces.
Vice President Dick Cheney accompanied Bush for the meeting Friday that also included Defence Secretary Robert Gates as the Sep 15 deadline for the Bush administration to send a report to Congress approaches.
“Congress asked for this assessment, and members of Congress should withhold judgment until they have heard it,” Bush said in a statement after the meeting.
Bush has already had to endure a series of reports that have painted a bleak picture of the situation in Iraq. One released last week by the US intelligence community questioned the Iraq government’s ability to take on some of the major challenges the country faces.
A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Congress investigative arm, will be sent to lawmakers Tuesday, and versions of it leaked to the media say the Iraqi government has failed to meet more than three of the 18 benchmarks laid out by Congress earlier this year.
The GAO report sharply disputed the Bush administration’s initial findings in July that eight of the 18 benchmarks had been met. The reports have fuelled Democratic opposition to the war and calls to begin bringing troops home, while prompting some Republicans to take sides against the White House.
Several Republicans who remain in Bush’s camp, however, have said they will wait for the report from the US ambassador in Iraq Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus, the top US commander there, before making any final decisions on whether to continue supporting the president’s policy.
Senate Democrats fell eight vote shorts of the 60 needed in a July vote to set deadlines for the withdrawal of US forces. A defection of more Republicans could add pressure on Bush, who has steadfastly opposed a timeframes, to consider troop withdrawals.
Bush urged Democrats to put political differences aside and work with his administration to ensure troops have what they need to complete their mission in Iraq.
“The stakes in Iraq are too high and the consequences too grave for our security here at home to allow politics to harm the mission of our men and women in uniform,” Bush said.
Republican John Warner, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, suggested last week that Bush pull 5,000 of the 160,000 troops in Iraq by the year-end but spoke out against congressionally mandated deadlines.
“Let the president establish the timetable of withdrawal, not the Congress,” Warner said. “Under the Constitution, as commander in chief, he has that authority.”
Despite Democratic attempts to influence the policy in Iraq, Bush has largely remained in control despite his dwindling time in office and a public that long ago turned against the conflict that has taken the lives of over 3,700 US soldiers.
The debate in Iraq comes as the presidential elections season is about to heat up. Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democratic candidate, has called for new leadership in Iraq, saying Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has proven incapable of overcoming the Shia-Sunni tension in the country to govern effectively.
The US intelligence community last week said that al-Maliki has failed to tackle some of the key challenges facing the country, including the establishment of an oil law to share revenue among Iraq’s rival ethnic and religious groups and to move toward political reconciliation.
Bush has continued to support al-Maliki.