Republicans challenge GAO assessment of Iraq progress

Unable to dispute the lack of political movement in Iraq, Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday challenged the overall value of the Government Accountability Office's assessment of the 18 benchmarks of progress and quibbled over its evaluation of whether the surge of U.S. troops has reduced violence.

In an apparent effort to set the stage for what they hope will be a more favorable report from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the Republicans also repeatedly challenged Comptroller General David Walker's statement that the GAO report will be "the only independent and professional" evaluation they will receive of the situation in Iraq.

Those GOP reactions during this week's second congressional hearing on the GAO report appeared to follow the tactics established by President Bush in his surprise visit to Iraq, which focused on the sharp reduction in violence in previously volatile Anbar Province.

Walker responded that he has high regard for the competence of the top military and diplomatic officials in Iraq and agreed that they would be better able to assess some conditions on the ground than GAO. But he insisted they were not totally independent since they fell directly under the president.

And Walker agreed that the 18 benchmarks agreed to by the Iraqi government were not the best standards to judge the situation. He argued that the Congress should be considering the nation's overall national security and foreign policy goals in the Middle East and where Iraq fit into that broader agenda.

But committee Democrats praised Walker's report as objective and said it raised serious questions as to whether the nation should continue the sacrifice of lives and money. House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said the country faces a dilemma in that "our soldiers fight hard and are showing some results... But their efforts do not seem to be matched by the government of Iraq."

He added, "We are left asking ourselves why we should expect this record to be different in the future and whether further American efforts will be of any effect." Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., agreed partly with the GOP attempt to downplay the benchmarks, calling it "a false debate." The real question, she said, is whether U.S. national security interests are served by continuing the military presence in Iraq. "I don't think it is."

The GOP attack was led by Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., filling in for House Armed Services ranking member Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., arguing that GAO's focus on whether Iraq had met the 18 benchmarks "was a set up to present a negative picture without reflecting progress on the ground."

Saxton and other Republicans repeatedly questioned Walker's finding that it was "unclear" that the U.S. troop increase had reduced sectarian violence, arguing that administration figures showed an overall decline in violence.