Report Reveals Mixed Progress on Iraq Benchmarks

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• KWAME HOLMAN:

  The president's interim report charting progress in Iraq was part of the deal he made with Congress last May in exchange for continued war funding. Meeting with White House media in the newly refurbished press room this morning, the president offered two interpretations of that report.

  GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States: Those who believe that the battle in Iraq is lost will likely point to the unsatisfactory performance on some of the political benchmarks. Those of us who believe the battle in Iraq can and must be won see the satisfactory performance on several of the security benchmarks as a cause for optimism.

  Our strategy is built on a premise that progress on security will pave the way for political progress. So it's not surprising that political progress is lagging behind the security gains we are seeing.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  But when asked what he thought of current efforts in Congress to set timelines for troop withdrawals, the president was unequivocal.

• GEORGE W. BUSH:

  I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding our troops. I'm certainly interested in their opinion, but trying to run a war through resolution is a prescription for failure, as far as I'm concerned, and we can't afford to fail.

  I'll work with Congress; I'll listen to Congress. Congress has got all the right to appropriate money. But the idea of telling our military how to conduct operations, for example, or how to deal with troop strength is — I don't think it makes sense. I don't think it makes sense today, nor do I think it's a good precedent for the future.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  But at the Capitol, House Democrats were charging ahead with a plan to pull out U.S. troops by next spring.

• CONGRESSMAN:

  This war is not worthy of another drop of human blood.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  And members of both parties used the administration's report to support their arguments. Tennessee Democrat John Tanner said the Iraqi government's failings were impossible to ignore.

  REP. JOHN TANNER (D), Tennessee: Over one-third of the ministers are boycotting the meetings. Two years after the Iraqi elections, the government there is dysfunctional.

  Now, let's listen to General Petraeus' words. We have to have a political aspect, and this present strategy — whether the surge works or not is beside the point. These people are unwilling or unable to come together, after two years of a government, to work together to build any kind of civil society that we can support. I think that it's now time, with this interim report and the lack of political progress there, to send a message.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  But California's Duncan Hunter, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, argued against basing any decisions on the interim report, reminding colleagues that Army General David Petraeus will deliver a full, final report in September.

  REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), California: There's no reason to do this. We have an interim report, which has just come out. The interim report says that of the — in the 18 areas of interest in which progress has to be registered, there's been progress on eight of them. There's been unsatisfactory progress on eight of them. And on two of them, it's too early to really make an evaluation. Well, that's the interim report. And on September 15th, we'll get a further report.