Although the Iraqi government has had little success in meeting 18 formal benchmarks designated by Congress, the Bush administration believes U.S. military forces have improved the security of Iraqi citizens and that additional progress will be evident by September.
U.S. military wants new date to assess buildup: November
By Julian E. Barnes and Paul Richter
Times Staff Writers
July 20, 2007
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and U.S. military officials predicted Thursday that a key September report would show progress in Iraq, but that it would be November before they could judge the success of the troop buildup.
The comments — coming a day after congressional Democrats failed to force a change in the U.S. war strategy — were a new indication that the White House planned to seek still more time for its troop "surge" to stabilize the situation in Iraq.
Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of day-to-day operations in Iraq, said via teleconference from Baghdad that the military would produce the report on time as required by Congress. But, he said, September would be too early to determine whether security improvements would last and whether the buildup had worked.
"In order to do a good assessment, I need at least until November," Odierno said. "If I have 45 more days of looking at those trends, I'll be able to make a bit more accurate assessment — if it's something that we think is going to continue or something that was just a blip."
The September report looms large because key Republicans, such as Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, have indicated they would not aggressively challenge the current strategy until after the administration delivers the assessment. Forestalling the challenge for another two months would allow the Pentagon to continue using the extra 28,500 combat and support troops President Bush authorized.
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