Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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August 30, 2007

US Congressional Report Finds Little Progress in Iraq
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=191BF17:A6F02AD83191E160A9C44E366BB69C019574F7DCC14957C0 Government auditors
determine Iraq has failed to meet most of 18 benchmarks mandated by
Congress to judge military, political progress U.S. government
auditors are reported to have determined that Iraq has failed to meet
most of the 18 benchmarks mandated by Congress to judge military and
political progress in the war-torn country.

U.S. media say a report to be issued by the Government Accountability
Office will say the Iraqi government has failed to meet at least 13 of
the 18 goals set by U.S. lawmakers to assess President Bush's plan to
send an additional 30,000 troops into Iraq earlier this year.

The GAO report is expected to be delivered to Congress in the coming
days, ahead of a long awaited assessment by the Bush administration on
the state of the war.

A preliminary assessment released by the White House in July said the
Iraqis had made satisfactory progress on eight of the benchmarks,
while several others were either unsatisfactory or mixed.

A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, says the GAO's report is
based on far tougher measurements.

The upcoming report on the situation in Iraq will be delivered next
month by the top two U.S. officials there - Ambassador Ryan Crocker
and Army General David Petraeus. It is expected to show that the
security situation has improved thanks to the additional U.S. troops
sent to Iraq since January.


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