GAO Report On Iraq: Gloomy

The Washington Post has a draft of a 69-page GAO report which concludes that the Iraqi government has met only three of the 18 goals put forth by Congress. (I think at least one of these goals is an unquestionable victor-dictate-to-the-conquered.)

Reporters call the report "strikingly negative" -- the final version is expected next Tuesday. It also seems to reflect my questions about how to measure the "success" of the surge: "While the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, U.S. agencies differ on whether such violence has been reduced... The average number of daily attacks against civilians remained about the same over the last six months; 25 in February versus 26 in July."

Why leak the document? It was "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."

Commentary: TPM Muckraker, Wake Up America, PoliBlog. More later today.