WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Bush administration Thursday rejected a government's auditor's bleak draft survey on political and military advances in Iraq, saying its criteria for judging progress were too harsh.
The White House and State Department hit back after leaked details emerged of a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), saying Iraq had failed to meet all but three of 18 benchmarks laid down by Congress.
The reports emerged at a vital moment of the Iraq war debate, as the White House and anti-war Democrats crank up political heat ahead of a showdown over President George W. Bush's troop surge strategy, next month in Congress.
The White House took pains to differentiate the GAO survey from the president's own report on the 30,000-strong troop hike in Iraq, due by September 15.
"The president must report on whether or not the Iraqis are making significant progress towards achieving the benchmarks in Iraq," deputy spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
"The GAO ... is asked by Congress to say whether or not they have met them," she said, adding that the "bar was set so high" it was all but impossible for Iraqis to meet the standards.
White House spokesman Tony Snow later said it was no secret that many benchmarks had not been met, yet argued there had been "significant" progress towards a great number of them.
Democrats reacted furiously to the GAO assessment.
House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Bush "insists that our soldiers sacrifice even more, and taxpayers spend billions more dollars for an Iraqi government incapable or unwilling to institute reforms."
Presidential candidate John Edwards accused Bush of living in a "fantasy world," while Senate Majority leader Harry Reid accused the White House of substituting "spin" for an objective analysis of events in Iraq.
Congress passed a law earlier this year requiring the president to state what revisions are necessary in US strategy, if he assesses progress towards any benchmarks is "unsatisfactory."
The GAO is required by the law to assess Iraq's progress in meeting benchmarks on political reconciliation, constitutional reform, building of security forces, challenging sectarian militia and sharing oil revenues.
The GAO report, to be unveiled Tuesday, concludes that efforts by the Iraqi government to meet key legislation and reconstruction efforts are stalled, the Washington Post said.
Attacks on civilians have not ebbed and the Iraqi security forces have grown no more competent, the draft said, adding that US agencies were divided on whether violence had been reduced by the surge.
Its findings contrasted to an upbeat interim assessment by the White House in July, which found positive developments in eight of 18 categories.
The White House and Republicans in Congress have argued the surge has dampened violence in Iraq and said benchmarks are not a reliable measure of progress in a country, where 3,729 US soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians have died.
"Militarily, is the surge having an impact? The answer is yes. There's no question about it," Snow said.
But Democrats say the surge was designed specifically to give the Iraqi government space to achieve political reconciliation, and so has ultimately failed.
Attention is now focusing on testimony to Congress next month by Iraq war commander General David Petraeus and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker.
The White House said they would appear on September 10 and 12, avoiding the emotionally charged date of September 11, the sixth anniversary of terror strikes targeting New York and Washington.
Bush is meanwhile expected at the Department of Defense Friday for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on surge strategy.
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