Pentagon Issues Iraq Progress Report

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Pentagon Issues Iraq Progress Report

December 18, 2007 6:09 PM

ABC News' Jonathan Karl and Luis Martinez Reports: This afternoon the Pentagon issued the most comprehensive official portrait of the improving situation in Iraq. And it's not just about security. There has also been significant improvement in the economy, government services and political reconciliation.

The portrayal comes in the Congressionally mandated quarterly report called "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq." In the past, this report has offered a brutally negative assessment. Today's report, however, shows real progress, across-the-board.

Here are some highlights:

Economy/Government services

- Inflation, through October of this year, stands at 4.2 percent. Last year, it was 52.8 percent.
- Like the Canadian dollar, the Iraqi dinar is gaining on the U.S. dollar (from 1475 dinars per dollar last year to 1218 per dollar)!
- Electricity production is up 14 percent over last year. (And there's more to come. Iranian and Chinese companies have inked deals to build more power plants).
- Oil production and oil exports are up slightly. But with higher oil prices up, there is significantly more money coming in. The Iraqi government is expected to pass a $48.4 billion budget for 2008.
- BUT: the report says the provision of essential services is still plagued by sectarian bias.
- BUT: Unemployment remains high (17.6 percent) and Underemployment (38.1 percent)

Political Reconciliation

Although the Iraqi parliament has lagged, the report cites "bottom-up" reconciliation in the provinces. The report also points to significant achievements by the much-maligned Iraqi parliament has made progress:

- Passing a "Unified Retirement Law" that will allow civil servants from the Baathist government to collect pensions.
- The oil-revenue law still hasn't passed, but their is de facto revenue sharing as the government is sending money out to the provinces.
- BUT: The report says the key national reconciliation laws need to be passed to solidify gains.

Security

The most dramatic developments have been the reduction of violence.

- Weekly IED attacks have dropped 68 percent since June. That brings the number of IED attacks to where they were in 2005.

- The numbers of "high-profile attacks" fell by 62 percent since March. The number of US troops deaths from IED's fell to the lowest level since January, 2006.

- Civilian casualties are now below the level seen before the Feburary 2006 Samarra bombing touched off a de facto civil war.

- BUT: Nineva province (in the north) is not seeing improvement. In fact, the level of attacks in Nineva is higher now than it was in 2006.

Overall, the numbers show undeniable progress, but they are also a reminder of how bad things were from early 2006 to mid-2007. We are now, essentially, back to the level of violence we saw in 2004 and 2005. And, if you remember, at the time that was considered pretty bad .

December 18, 2007 in Romney, Mitt | Permalink | User Comments (23)

User Comments

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So let me get this straight. Things are some better but we can't be sure what to attribute that improvement to: is it the fact that there was a falling out between Sunni insurgents and Al-
Qaeda, which worked to our advantage when the warlords used our troops as assistant enforcers? (I don't dispute that the enemy of my enemy may be temporarily my friend)...or is it because there have been walls built and Baghdad turned into a virtual prison with a tad improved electricity and water delivery? ...Or is it due to there having been SO much violence that either there aren't that many people left to kill or else the ones there are SO sick of things that they are exhausted from all the violence and hide indoors in their houses while daily torture chambers and bodies still turn up in the smouldering civil war?
And I guess the ultimate question would be: is this temporary mini-victory coming at a Phyrric (almost suicidal) cost to our mother country here back home? With borrowing going on for the national debt at over $2 million a minute, is the victory so costly that it will bankrupt our country and tear it apart at the seams from internal division, economic hardship and damaged reputation worldwide that diminishes our business and standing overseas?
So just how 'worth it' is all this bloodshed, with over a million Iraqi's dead, over 4 thousand American troops dead and countless more returning vets with their lives and bodies torn apart with insufficient help for them once they get here (and a higher than ever suicide rate among troops over there and returning troops here)....

Just how much of a victory are we to celebrate? And how much longer do we hemmhorage money to Red China at interest so we can 'keep the lid on' over there while it takes decades to get their industry, their politics and their peoples' lives rebuilt?

Posted by: JL | Dec 22, 2007 5:21:04 AM

Anything a terrorist leader or random Iraqi on the street says is considered gospel by the news media. But anything the US government says is always a lie. When are we going to recognize the real enemy? - the hypocrisy of liberalism.

Posted by: Neo Politicus | Dec 26, 2007 7:04:04 PM

The liberals have no sense of vision or foresight. You people who favor an Iraq pull-out have absolutely no comprehension of the consequences and you have not learned a thing from history. Even if one of your two incompetent presidential candidates manages to win the presidency, I would bet that they change their surrender tune once in office. Not even Hillary or Obama could risk the political fall out of Iraq falling into the hands of Al-Qaeda and Iran. You libs are in for a big disappointment when your candidates fail to deliver on their impossible promises.

Posted by: Eric | Mar 11, 2008 11:41:30 AM

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