THE TENSION: Pentagon Disputes Parts of GAO Iraq Report

News in Balance:

Thursday, The Associated Press reported the Iraqi government has failed to meet the vast majority of pass or fail political and military goals stipulated by Congress to assess the Iraq war strategy, congressional auditors have determined.

In an apparent leak, AP was told that the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure the surge of U.S. troops to Iraq are unfulfilled ahead of a September 15 deadline when President Bush is to give a detailed accounting of the situation in Iraq.

AP reported:

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been made public, also said the administration is preparing a case to play down the findings, arguing that Congress ordered the GAO to use unfair, "all or nothing" standards when compiling the document.

Later, AP also reported Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday that after reviewing a draft of the Government Accountability Office report -- which has not yet been made public -- policy officials "made some factual corrections" and "offered some suggestions on a few of the actual grades" assigned by the GAO.

"We have provided the GAO with information which we believe will lead them to conclude that a few of the benchmark grades should be upgraded from `not met' to `met,'" Morrell said. He declined to elaborate or to spell out which of the benchmark grades the Pentagon was disputing.

At the White House, officials said that the GAO report, which was required by legislation President Bush signed last spring, was unrealistic because it assigned "pass or fail" grades to each benchmark, rather than assessing whether the Iraqis have made progress toward reaching the benchmark goals.

"A bar was set so high, that it was almost not to be able to be met," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "On the other hand, one of the things it does not take into account, which is not on the benchmark list, is the cooperation of the Sunni tribes, who have decided to fight back against al-Qaida."