Iraq's Poor Record On Meeting Benchmarks

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice sent a letter to Sen. Carl Levin responding to a request to disclose the details of an agreement that had reportedly been made between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government last fall    TPM

   From The Associated Press:

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Rice: Iraq missed political deadlines

By ANNE GEARAN
AP DIPLOMATIC WRITER

Iraq has passed target dates to make laws establishing provincial elections, regulating distribution of the country's oil wealth and reversing measures that have excluded many Sunnis from jobs and government positions because of Baath party membership, according to the list Rice provided.

    You can read Miss Rice's letter HERE.

   With the vote forthcoming on the non-binding resolutions over Bush's troop escalation, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham  are working on a plan of their own aimed at blocking the two resolutions which are highly critical of the White house by proposing a resolution that would set benchmarks for the Iraqi government and describe the troop increase as a final chance for the United States to restore security in Baghdad. NYTimes

   Is that not just what the Iraqis need? More benchmarks that they will never meet on top of the ones that they haven't met yet? This sounds like a winning plan to me!

Senator Russell Feingold, Democrat who acted as chairman for the hearing, said he would soon introduce a resolution that would go much further. It would end all financing for the deployment of American military forces in Iraq after six months, other than a limited number working on counterterrorism operations or training the Iraqi Army and police force. In effect, it would call for all other American forces to be withdrawn by the six-month deadline.   NYTimes

 

Technorati tags: Iraq, Benchmarks, Rice