GAO Leaks Iraq Benchmark Report to Washington Post

Astonishing news overnight tonight, as the Washington Post is reporting that they have obtained a copy of a report on Iraq benchmarks from the Government Accountability Office that the paper describes as "strikingly negative" and "stark." According to the GAO, "Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress," and goes on to question "whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration."

This is hardly the first time the White House has found itself at odds with the GAO. As early as 2002, the GAO battled Bush over documents related to Dick Cheney's closed door energy policy meetings. In 2005, the GAO determined that the administration "violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies." Similarly, the GAO has sparred with the executive branch over environmental assessments, signing statements, and Medicare cost estimate disclosures.

So, with all of that as prologue, it's not entirely surprising that the Office, with this report in hand, would choose to act pre-emptively in disclosing it to the Post. Still, the reasoning behind the leak is worth noting:

The person who provided the draft report to The Post said it was being conveyed from a government official who feared that its pessimistic conclusions would be watered down in the final version -- as some officials have said happened with security judgments in this month's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. Congress requested the GAO report, along with an assessment of the Iraqi security forces by an independent commission headed by retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, to provide a basis for comparison with the administration's scorecard.

So, in the end, the GAO reckoned that the White House couldn't be trusted to refrain from doctoring this report.

All of this arrives in advance of a scheduled assessment from the White House itself, which will come bundled with hotly anticipated testimony from General David Petraeus. As the Post relates, "They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq."

Of course, it is impossible to predict just what sort of damage this leak will do to the President's plan to construct a bulwark of rosy scenarios between now and the middle of September. Still, this leak comes at a fitting time: two years after Katrina, it's President Bush who potentially finds himself on the wrong side of a busted levee.

Related:
Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals [Washington Post]

Comments

[PerryWhite]

The GAO is an arm of Congress. How could the administration doctor the report or water it down?

[Janelynne]

I find it enormously comforting that the entire government isn't corrupt. GAO, you go.

[marypoppins]

hark
So right you are. Anybody remember the Iraq Study Group Report? The whole country said in unison ... let's wait for the ISG recommendations. I think I saw a copy in my chiropractor's waiting room last week.

[Paul]

So when is Congress gonna step up and pull the plug on this fiasco?

Are the Republicans brain dead?

[PoliceState]

The "leaker" is a true patriot, and I congratulate him/her.

What a statement about this administration: somebody had to leak an unflattering assessment of the war because he or she knew there wasn't a chance in Hell the truth would reach the American people.

The document would have undergone a NOAA-type scrub, with strikethroughs and insertions all over the place.

This administration will be the most hated in our country's history. Their crimes against the people of the United States are innumerable.

[ethearch]

Now that turd blossom and fredo are gone, who both kept their cruddy little fingers in the dike to keep real information from getting out about this corrupt administration, I get the feeling that we're going to see a lot more of these goodies come spilling out from all kinds of credible sources.

[Collielady]

They will find a way to spin it all into a positive perspective anyway and the Democrats will buy into the spin out of fear that they will lose their own corporate-butt-kissing seats. Too bad, when the vast majority of us poll to be anti-Bush, anti-war, and increasingly anti-Congress. But then, none of this is really about us anyway.

Welcome to fascist America. Just shut up and pay your taxes. And don't forget to vote... not because it isn't a meaningless charade, but because it is the only feel-good delusion left in this crumbling "democracy". You might even get a little "I VOTED" sticker on your way out, which really enhances the experience. ("They really do care what I think after all! I get to participate!")

My father, who had a perfect voting record, died waiting for change in our corrupt system, and that was 30 years ago. I will continue to carry on that tradition, and I, too, will go out kicking and screaming.

Anyway, don't expect much change to occur with this new report. We will stay the course.

[hufferh]

Clearly Bush is just wasting these lives so that he doesn't have to admit he screwed up but at what point to we need to blame the people of America too. It is the job of the people in a democracy to stay informed and demand their voices are heard. I know there is constant misinformation being put out to confuse people but if you actually read stuff, it is very easy to see throught the bulls**t. It has already been reported that the WH is writing the new report but it is still called the Petraeous report and people still wait for it even though, like the every report written by the WH it will say things are getting better; the surge is working! Why aren't the Dems getting in front of this and saying, "It doesn't matter what the report says, George Bush CAN NOT tell the truth so this report is meaningless." Or start a movement to demand the Petraeous report is actually written by Gen Petraeous so that it has a chance of containing actual facts.

[lobear00]

Lets also give alot of that blame to the Media in the US. Its unspeakable the way Corporate Media is rolling in the mud with this Administration.
This Administration with all the underhanded and Illegal garbage they have pulled, is all done by Design. Everything they have done was well planned out and executed.
The only thing left for the Cronies in the Congress to do, is Impeach these Criminals. Democrats get up the backbone to stop the Funding of this Illegal war.

[eniobob]

First the NIE now the GAO,How much more is it going to go on.The lives of the Soldiers the disruption of their famlilies the waste of money.Its truley a sad time.

[JoeBlough]

As long as the MONEY is flowing to the Republicans, it o.k.

[hark]

Too little, too late. Bush has won another round. He'll get his Friedman through next spring without even a whimper from the Dems this time. All the disastrous facts about Iraq have been perfectly clear for the last six months, and yet no one is paying any attention to them - they're just salivating like starving dogs waiting for the Petraeus report, which will be nothing more than continued White House propaganda for staying the course. Everybody knows it's all choreographed, but they just can't seem, or don't want to jump out of the script.

The bottom line is that until someone comes up with a viable alternative, we're going to stay the course. And redeployment is not a viable alternative. We have to engage the international community or nothing will stop this thing. And we also have to start talking openly about that 3000 pound gorilla in the room that the MSM, Democrats, Republicans and the administration are ignoring - the partial privatization of Iraq's oil industry, and the secret, and possibly dominant, role it is playing in this whole drama.

[aulandtedeutche]

Once Upon A Time
There was an Evil Empire
Ruled By Evil Men Who Would Bring Their Political Creed To The World At The Point Of A Gun So They Would Garner Power
Citizens Would Disappear Or Be Reeducated
They Sent Their Agents To Kill In Other Countries
They Invaded Afganistan
Their Every Statement Was Suspect
Brave People Smuggled Out Valuable Documents To Show The Free World How Frail The Edifice Was
For The Empire Was Bankrupt

If all this goes according to script does that make Michael Bloomberg Boris Yeltsin.

[Nommo]

More like Boston Chance (or was it Chance Boston)

[mommadona]

AND IT'S A SAD MOURNING IN AMERICA WHEN THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE 'LEAKED' BECAUSE THE POTUS IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED WITH IT.

I hear violin music....anyone see the fire?

[Synoia]

All "MOURNINGS" are sad. All mornings are not.

[Colmore]

Why has it taken so long for someone to develop a spine, and do this sooner? I know "better late than never" but look at the lives lost, broken, and the destruction both in Iraq and this country. Now he wants another $50 billion??? What the HELL does this moron use for brains? I am disgusted. This country needs LEADERSHIP, and it is sadly missing on both sides of the aisle. By the way, the trip to NOLA cost taxpayers plenty. Laura arrived on a seperate plane. She can't stand him, either.

[pgf1948]

The end of your post:

Thanks for the only laugh I have had all day.

[thesimulacra]

I wouldn't necessarily assume the leak came from the GAO itself - GAO studies are requested by members of Congress, it's possible that one of the members who requested the study be done obtained a copy of the report early and decided to leak it pre-emptively for the same reasons you stated earlier. They just said it came from a "government official" after all.

That aside, I've found that the GAO and the National Security Archives (at George Washington Univ.'s website) are some of the best places to do your own government watchdogging. There is an unbelievable amount of dirt that is uncovered there weekly, yet most of it is completely missed by the mainstream media (typically because they lack the patience to sit down and read the things unless they sparkle with tabloid-worthy zingers). I highly recommend everyone check those two websites out for themselves regularly.