IMPEACH BUSH

RTTNews) - A gloomy assessment on the political and military situation in Iraq released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office has drawn criticism from commanders on the ground and reignited calls for troop withdrawals.

The congressional report, which concluded that Iraq had failed to meet all but two of the nine security goals Congress had set as part of a list of 18 benchmarks, comes just days before Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker deliver their much-anticipated progress report to federal lawmakers next week.

The GAO report also said that only one of eight political goals -- safeguarding minority rights in the Iraqi parliament -- had been met while little progress has been made on such thorny issues as how oil revenues are to be distributed and a schedule of provincial elections.

"Overall, key legislation has not been passed, violence remains high and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend the $10 billion in reconstruction funds it has allocated," GAO chief Comptroller General David Walker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

To make his point, he said that 15 of 37 cabinet ministers have withdrawn their support for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"Given the fact that significant progress has not been made in improving the living conditions of the Iraqis on a day-to-day basis with regard to things that all citizens care about -- safe streets, clean water, reliable electricity, a variety of other basic things," Walker said, "I think you'd have to say it's dysfunctional -- the government is dysfunctional."

While Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada seized on the bleak assessment, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said senior military officials told Republicans that the GAO report was designed to portray a negative picture.

Military officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Petraeus will give the official military position, disputed in particular the GAO statement that a drop in sectarian attacks could not be confirmed.

"We absolutely disagree with their characterization of sectarian violence," one official said. Such attacks have fallen significantly this year, he said, according to The Washington Post.

Still, Reid, calling for troop redeployments, said on the Senate floor that "We can't continue the way we are" in Iraq.

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican member on the committee, said the GAO report highlights the unwillingness of Iraqi officials to forge political reconciliation.

"If the answer ultimately is that Iraqis are really not as concerned about being Iraqis, but only Iraqis if they are in charge, they will continue civil strife, and this is an awesome dilemma," he said.

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