GAO Iraq Report

Today the independent Government Accountability Office released its Congressionally-mandated report on the progress of President Bush's Iraq surge. This report by the GAO is likely to be the only truly independent assessment of conditions in Iraq, as the much-vaunted Petraeus report is being written by the White House, and the Iraqi ambassador writing the other report is a Bush appointee.

The GAO's conclusions? The surge has failed to meet 11 of 18 benchmarks. Of the other seven, the GAO determined that three were met and four were partially met (a chart of the benchmarks can be seen here). These benchmarks were set forth by both chambers of Congress back in May as conditions that must be met for the surge to be considered a success. Counting each partially-met benchmark as half-complete, the surge has thus scored a 27.8%.

War apologists are making the rounds claiming that violence is down and point to the President's surprise visit as evidence of improving conditions. The fact is that deaths in Iraq have only increased. Compared to the months before the surge, deaths are up. Comparing months this year to the same months last year, deaths are up. Anyone claiming to have figures saying otherwise is either distorting their numbers or outright lying. As far as Bush's visit goes, the fact that he can only visit Iraq by secretly flying to a massive US military base (which he didn't leave for the duration of his visit) says all you really need to know.

The Iraq war is still a failure. More people are dying, military or otherwise. The government is in a shambles. The longer we stay, the more our brave men and women in uniform get killed, the more innocent Iraqi civilians die, and the more good money we throw after bad.

And now it's the Magical September when Republicans are supposed to come around and start voting to end the war. Instead, it looks like Democrats are going to 'come around' and vote to continue supporting the war. Our leaders in Washington need to understand that 27.8% is not a sign of success. It is a sign of failure. Increases in violence are not signs of progress, they are signs of failure. A government on the brink of collapse is not a hint that if we just clap louder, things will miraculously turn around.

In a new book "Dead Certain" by Robert Draper, Bush reveals that his goal is not to end this war, but to make certain that his successor will keep troops in Iraq indefinitely. The administration will do and say whatever it can to further that goal. Democrats in Congress need to realize that this war will not end until they take a serious stand. Republicans need 60 votes in the Senate to get a funding bill through. There are enough Democrats to stop that from happening. Any fantasy that Republicans are going to come around and support real withdrawal measures is just that, fantasy. The only way this war is going to end in the next year is for Democrats to not fund it. Americans hate this President. Americans hate this war. This is not only the right thing to do, it is the politically expedient thing to do. All it takes is 41 Democrats in the Senate saying no. For the sake of our soldiers, the Iraqis, and our country, I sincerely hope they do.

Larry Craig

In other news, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Minneapolis public restroom) is apparently reconsidering his decision to resign in the wake of his gay public sex scandal. This should be fun.

-David Kleppinger, Morons.org Legislative Analyst

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