Press Releases
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
09/04/2007
Pelosi: GAO Report Latest Assessment to Conclude That Iraqis Have Failed to Meet Political Benchmarks
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the
following statement today on the General Accounting Report on Iraq, which shows
that Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 required benchmarks for
political and military progress:
“The independent GAO report released today contrasts sharply
with President Bush’s stay-the-course
“Democrats stand with the American people and are committed
to bringing our troops home safely and soon. It is time to refocus our nation’s
efforts on fighting the real threats of terrorism around the world.”
* *
*
THE NONPARTISAN GAO REPORT ON
Iraqi
Government Fails to Meet 15 out of 18
Benchmarks
Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
released an unclassified assessment of the Iraqi Government and its failure to
meet 15 out of 18 political, economic and security benchmarks set out by
President Bush in January.
From the GAO
Report:
· “The constitutional review process is not complete, and laws
on de-Ba’athification, oil revenue sharing, provincial elections, and amnesty
have not passed.” (pg. 3)
· The number of
daily attacks against civilians remained “about the same over the last six
months” (pg. 10)
· The number of
Iraqi army units “capable of independent operations had decreased from March
2007 to July 2007.” (pg. 12)
· The Jayash
al-Mahdi, the Sadr militia, “often operates under the protection or approval of
Iraqi police to detain and kill suspected Sunni insurgences and civilians.”
(pg. 35)
· The rights of
Iraqi legislators from minority parties are protected by
Chart detailing status of 18
benchmarks included in GAO report
FROM MILITARY
LEADERS:
Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., Army
Chief of Staff
“Our force is stretched and out of balance…The tempo
of our deployments are not sustainable, our equipment usage is five times the
normal rate and continuously operating in harsh environments.” [New
York Times, 9/1/07]
Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander
of
“I have not seen any improvement really in the year
I’ve been here” regarding the Iraqi security forces… “Progress is slower than it
should be inside the (Iraqi) army in particular.”
Lt. Col. Steven Miska, deputy
brigade commander
The situation in