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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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Iraq Making Slow Gains on Goals, Says White House

Government met only half of its benchmarks

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(Newser) – Iraq has made "satisfactory" progress on only half of its 18 benchmarks for success, the White House told Congress today, hours after President Bush said the country’s advancements merited a strong US military presence there. Since the July progress report, only one benchmark—reintegrating Baathists into the government—has been upgraded from unsatisfactory to satisfactory, the AP reports.

Administration officials said there hadn’t been enough time to make sufficient progress, and Tony Snow downplayed the 18 formal benchmarks, hyping other markers of success like the sharing of oil revenues and local reconciliation efforts. The discouraging assessment, the BBC says, complicates Bush’s efforts to sell his strategy to skeptical Americans.

President Bush, right, shakes hands with with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, as President Jalal Talabani, second from left, looks on at Al-Asad Airbase in Anbar province, Iraq, Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. The president made an unannounced visit to Iraq to meet with Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general of...
President Bush, right, shakes hands with with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, as President Jalal Talabani, second from left, looks on at Al-Asad Airbase in Anbar province, Iraq, Monday, Sept....   (Associated Press)
President George W. Bush pauses in the Oval Office after addressing the nation on his strategy for Iraq, at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007. Bush says he is working on the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, to begin bringing...
President George W. Bush pauses in the Oval Office after addressing the nation on his strategy for Iraq, at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007. Bush says he is working on the recommendations...   (Associated Press)
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, listens to the Iraqi and Syrian national anthems upon his arrival at Damascus airport, in this Aug. 20, 2007 file photo. The Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months and its security forces have not improved enough to...
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, listens to the Iraqi and Syrian national anthems upon his arrival at Damascus airport, in this Aug. 20, 2007 file photo. The Iraqi government will become...   (Associated Press)
In this image released by the Iraqi Government, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, left, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, second left, attend a daylong conference in Baghdad between officials from Iraq's neighbors and other Middle East countries Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007. Zebari urged Iraq's neighbors Sunday to prevent
In this image released by the Iraqi Government, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, left, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, second left, attend a daylong conference in Baghdad between officials...   (Associated Press)
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