US:The White House and the Pentagon yesterday challenged an independent congressional report that casts doubt on the credibility of President George Bush's repeated assertions that his "surge" strategy is working in Iraq.
A leaked draft of the report, by the government accountability office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, says the Bush administration has failed to meet the vast majority of military and political benchmarks set by Congress this year.
The report notes that 13 of the 18 benchmarks, which include military goals, such as the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over, as well as measuring whether the Iraqi government has made progress towards political reconciliation between Shia and Sunni Muslims, have not been met.
Its conclusions are at odds with a similar exercise carried out by the White House in June that was optimistic, reporting progress in several areas, albeit limited.
The GAO report is one of a number of official assessments of the Iraq war over the next month, part of a struggle between the White House and Congress to establish whether the war is being won or lost.
The report, due to be published next week, is still in draft form and leaked segments specify which benchmarks are being missed.
The Pentagon is trying to have some of its negative conclusions revised. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said its officials "made some factual corrections" and "offered some suggestions on a few of the actual grades".
Mr Morrell said: "We have provided the GAO with information which we believe will lead them to conclude that a few of the benchmark grades should be upgraded from 'not met' to 'met'." He added: "The standard the GAO has set is far more stringent. Some might argue it's impossible to meet." White House officials said the GAO conclusions were unrealistic because it gave "pass or fail" grades to each benchmark instead of assessing, as the White House had done, whether progress had been made towards the benchmarks.
In June the White House reported satisfactory progress on eight benchmarks and mixed results on two others. The benchmarks are enshrined in legislation, passed by Democrats opposed to the war.
Deputy White House spokesman Dana Perino said the benchmarks set an extremely high standard. "A bar was set so high that it was almost not to be able to be met," she said. "On the other hand, one of the things it does not take into account, which is not on the benchmark list, is the co-operation of the Sunni tribes, who have decided to fight back against al-Qaeda."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said it was an early draft and he was reluctant to comment until it was finalised. He added that it had been leaked by someone who wanted to get the early thinking into the public domain.
He said it was obvious that the benchmarks had not been met but what was important was whether progress had been made. He said the question people wanted to know was "what is happening in Iraq?" and the answer could best be answered by those on the ground, Gen David Petraeus, and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker. The two are to brief Congress next month. They are expected to conclude there has been progress as a result of an extra 30,000 US troops.
The White House hopes to use the briefing as a platform to secure the billions needed to fund the war.
The administration is confident that it is turning opinion in Congress in favour of giving Mr Bush's strategy more time. Democrats have been threatening to cut off funding for the war but have been unable to attract enough Republicans support to enforce this.
Armed followers of Moqtada al-Sadr stayed off the streets yesterday after the Iraqi Shia cleric's surprise announcement that he was suspending operations by his al-Mahdi army militia. In Baghdad, the militiamen, who normally man checkpoints around the Sadr City stronghold of the anti-American cleric, were nowhere to be seen.
More than a dozen militia members in several parts of Iraq said they would obey the order, including an instruction they refrain from all "armed action" for up to six months. But many said they would fight US troops if provoked.