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WORLD / Middle East

Iraq falls short of goals as violence high

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-05 07:06

WASHINGTON - The Iraqi government has failed to take the political and
military steps needed to cut sectarian violence, a US congressional
report said on Tuesday and a US general said the next months were
critical for creating security in the country.

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Newly promoted White House Press Secretary Dana Perino poses with US
Marines during a visit to Al-Asad airbase with President Bush in Anbar
Province, September 3, 2007. [Reuters]

The US Government Accountability Office said Iraq had failed to meet 11
of 18 political and military benchmarks set by the US Congress in May,
including elimination of militia control of local security.

"Violence remains high, the number of Iraqi security forces capable of
conducting independent operations has declined, and militias are not
disarmed," the GAO, the investigating arm of Congress, said.

Despite the deployment of 30,000 extra US troops to Iraq, raising force
levels to 160,000, it said the number of attacks on civilians remained
unchanged from February to July 2007.

In Baghdad, the head of day-to-day US military operations said the next
three to four months would be vital to determine if violence could be cut
further and security maintained with fewer American troops.

Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno, the number two US military commander
in Iraq, said last week had seen the lowest number of violent incidents
against civilians and security forces across Iraq in the past 15 months.

"I think if we can continue to do what we are doing, we'll get to such a
level where we think we can do it with less troops," Odierno told a small
group of foreign reporters at a US military base near Baghdad airport.

He said attacks in August were the lowest in 13 months. Odierno gave no
detailed numbers, but he said the attacks included all violent incidents
such as bombings and shootings.

In fresh violence on Tuesday, a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi army major
and four soldiers in the volatile oil city of Baji north of Baghdad. The
Electricity Ministry also said eight workers had been kidnapped and
killed in Baghdad on Monday.

Violence Remains High

The GAO report was one of three awaited by the Democratic-led Congress as
it heads for a showdown this month with Bush over his Iraq strategy.

He is under mounting pressure from Democrats and some senior Republicans
who want US troops to start leaving after more than four years of war in
which 3,700 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed.

President George W. Bush flew into Iraq's western Anbar province on
Monday to meet with top commanders, where he pointed to security
successes in the region and raised the prospect of drawing down US
troops. But he said this would be done if gains continue, and only from a
position of strength.

The White House is to submit an assessment of the situation in Iraq by
September 15, after testimony to Congress next week by US Iraq commander
David Petraeus and the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker.

In the House of Representatives, it appeared Republican unity backing
Bush on Iraq was fracturing as six Republicans who have opposed past US
troop pullout proposals joined five Democrats in writing to House leaders
and calling for a bipartisan strategy to bring US troops home.

"While we are hopeful that their (Petraeus' and Crocker's) report will
show progress, we should not wait any longer to come together in support
of a responsible post-surge strategy to safely bring our troops home to
their families," said the letter.

In the Senate, one Republican leader talked of a long-term commitment to
the region.

"I would like to see us with at least some level of bipartisan agreement
that we need a long-term deployment somewhere in the Middle East, in the
future, for two reasons: Al Qaeda and Iran," Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on the
Senate floor that finding a "path out of Iraq" would be top priority in
the Senate this fall.

Iraq's parliament briefly reconvened on Tuesday after a monthlong summer
recess. It has not yet passed any of the benchmark laws, including
measures that would equitably share oil revenues, ease restrictions on
former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party holding public office, and
set a date for provincial elections.

Lawmakers complain the government has yet to submit the draft laws to
them.

Parliament adjourned after about 90 minutes after lawmakers asked for
time to read 10 bills that had been presented for their consideration,
lawmaker Hussein al-Falluji told Reuters. The 10 bills did not include
any of the benchmark laws.

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