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Walker forced to defend report card |
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By Roxana Tiron
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Posted: 09/06/07 07:53 PM [ET] |
Caught in the middle of an intensifying tussle over the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report card on Iraq, the comptroller general on Wednesday defended his agency’s work and independence in a testy exchange with Republican members.
Several GOP members of the House Armed Services Committee, with Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) in the lead, said the GAO report falls short of providing an accurate measure of Iraq’s progress, based on 18 benchmarks for security and political developments.
“The GAO represents the only independent and professional assessment that the Congress will receive, based upon these full 18 benchmarks,” Comptroller General David Walker said in his testimony.
“I would beg to differ,” said Saxton, adding that the military is also a professional outfit.
“I agree that they are professional, but they are not independent,” Walker retorted.
Walker and Saxton sparred over whether sectarian violence in Iraq has subsided, but agreed there is no clear answer.
Walker said that only the Multinational Forces-Iraq maintains data on sectarian violence, but that the GAO did not feel “comfortable” with the methodology that the military used in determining that there has been a decrease in sectarian violence.
“You’ve got a good record, but you are not always right,” Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) told Walker.
Even if the military’s methodology had been acceptable to the GAO, it would not have changed the agency’s overall assessment in Iraq, Walker added.
But Saxton hinted at reports that some military commanders in Iraq have called the GAO assessment flawed and factually incorrect.
Walker was quick to respond that it is not “uncommon” for those held accountable to find a problem with the GAO’s assessment.
Before the GAO officially released its report on Tuesday, it rejected several changes suggested by the Pentagon. The watchdog organization concluded that Iraq met only two of its nine security goals, but it also said that Iraq made partial progress in eliminating havens for militia forces and deploying three Iraqi army brigades to assist the U.S. security plan in Baghdad.
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