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              Iraq civilian deaths down but political reforms stalled, says White House
Friday, July 13th, 2007 Mark Tran
The White House today delivered its interim report on Iraq as President George Bush sought to stem a rising rebellion within his own Republican party over the war.Moments after the report’s release, Mr Bush insisted there would be no precipitous withdrawal of US combat troops despite crumbling Republican support. “A drawdown not linked to the success of the operation would be a disaster,” a defiant Mr Bush told a White House press conference. He said he shared the concerns of his fellow Republicans but added that he had “an obligation to hear out my commander on the ground and I will take his recommendation as well as consult members of Congress”. Ordered by Congress as an interim assessment of Mr Bush’s “surge” strategy to send in an extra 30,000 troops, the report concluded the overall trend in Iraq was positive under the present approach. But it admitted insufficient progress on eight of 18 congressional benchmarks, mainly concerning political reconciliation. Results were mixed on two other political benchmarks, and “satisfactory” progress was reported in the remaining areas, which mostly concerned military issues. The paper warned that al-Qaida forces would step up attacks in Iraq leading up to September in an attempt to influence US public opinion over the war. Today’s progress report has assumed considerable importance given the Republican rift over US policy on Iraq. Two more Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Chuck Hagel, yesterday said they would support Democratic efforts to begin US troop cuts. At least eight Republican senators - most of them up for re-election next year - have said they favour one or more of several proposed versions of a defence bill that would require early troop cuts. In a swipe at critics of US policy, the report said progress towards political reconciliation had been hampered by “increasing concern among Iraqi political leaders that the United States may not have a long-term commitment to Iraq”. It said “local political accommodations” had dramatically improved conditions in some of Iraq’s most violent areas, but it would take time for improved conditions locally to translate into broader political accommodations at the national level. “What is important is the overall trajectory, which, under our present strategy, has begun to stabilise, compared to the deteriorating trajectory seen over the course of 2006,” the White House said in the report. While the Senate lacks enough votes to override a presidential veto on troop withdrawals, the administration is alarmed at the growing number of senior Republicans deserting Mr Bush. The president has argued that his strategy of sending extra troops to Iraq, enacted in February, must be given time to work. The president and national security officials are urgently lobbying Republicans in Congress to hold off from trying to withdraw or redeploy troops until General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, and the US ambassador in Iraq, Ryan Crocker, deliver a more comprehensive assessment in September. Today’s report is expected to provide ammunition to both sides of the debate. It said the Iraqi government had failed to make satisfactory progress on a law to share oil revenues between the country’s Shia, Sunnis and Kurds, or on a law on de-Baathification that would allow former officials of Saddam Hussein’s regime to apply for government jobs. It said Iraqi government progress had been satisfactory on reducing sectarian violence, but unsatisfactory on eliminating militia control of local security. On al-Qaida, the White House said the number of suicide and car bomb attacks fell off markedly in May and June, possibly because of US and Iraqi government operations. “We should expect, however, that al-Qaida in Iraq will attempt to increase its tempo of attacks as September approaches in an effort to influence US domestic opinion about sustained US engagement in Iraq,” the report said. Have Your Say: Iraq civilian deaths down but political reforms stalled, says White House Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
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