U.S. report finds Iraq failing on goals

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday played down a congressional report showing Iraq had achieved few of the political and security goals set by Washington, saying the standards were too high to meet.

A draft of the report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said Iraq met only three out of 18 benchmarks, The Washington Post reported. The report is to be delivered to Congress on Tuesday.

The findings appeared at odds with a more positive assessment the White House gave in July that Iraq had made progress on eight out of 18 benchmarks.

But the White House drew a distinction between the standards for the two reports, saying that the GAO looked at which political and security goals had actually been met, while the administration's assessment was about progress being made.

"It's no secret that many of the benchmarks have not been met," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

"If you're trying to do an overall judgment on what's going on in Iraq, the idea that somehow your standard is everything completed or nothing completed seems to me to be a pretty high standard to meet.

"On the other hand, if you're trying to figure out are you making progress toward the goals that you have set out, that's probably the proper way to look at it," he said.

Democrats said the reported GAO findings bolstered their argument that the United States must withdraw combat troops from Iraq and refocus its war on terrorism.