Iraqis Are Failing to Meet U.S. Benchmarks

[cal04]

Source: DAMIEN CAVE

Iraq’s political leaders have failed to reach agreements on nearly every law that the Americans have demanded as benchmarks, despite heavy pressure from Congress, the White House and top military commanders. With only three months until progress reports are due in Washington, the deadlock has reached a point where many Iraqi and American officials now question whether any substantive laws will pass before the end of the year.

Kurds have blocked a vote in Parliament on a new oil law. Shiite clerics have stymied an American-backed plan for reintegrating former Baathists into government. Sunnis are demanding that a constitutional review include more power for the next president.

And even if one or two of the proposals are approved — the oil law appears the most likely, officials said — doubts are spreading about whether the current benchmarks can ever halt the cycle of violence gripping Iraq’s communities.

For the handful of party leaders with the power to make deals, the promise of compromise now carries less allure than the possibility for domination. Long-suppressed Shiites and Kurds now see total victory within their grasp. Previous American benchmarks like elections have failed to bring peace and, after four years of unfulfilled promises, bloodshed and sprawling chaos, once wary glances have become cold, unblinking stares.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/world/middleeast/13benchmarks-iht.html?hp

[babylonsister]

1. So will that mean we have to stay there longer, to 'help' some more? nt

[RamboLiberal]

2. Surprise, Surprise that F'in Chalabi is up to his a** in this

From OP article:

The latest effort began this spring with the grandly titled Reconciliation and Accountability Law, a proposal backed by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the senior American envoy in Iraq until April. The draft decreed that all former Baathists who had worked in the government could collect their pensions. It opened government jobs to thousands more, and set a three-month time limit for Iraqi citizens to bring lawsuits against former members of the Baath Party.

Sunnis supported the overhaul, and Shiites and Kurds were expected to fall in line after the Shiite prime minister and the Kurdish president announced the plan on March 26.

But the law was stymied by Ahmad Chalabi, who headed Iraq’s de-Baathification commission. Mr. Chalabi, the former Pentagon protégé, relies on the commission for an official role in Iraq’s government. Having just renovated a spacious office in the Green Zone, he has strongly opposed any effort to weaken his position or the country’s policy on former Baathists.

According to a senior official with the commission, Mr. Chalabi and members of his organization sabotaged the American-backed plan by rallying opposition among Shiite government officials in southern Iraq, then taking their complaints to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric.

On April 1, Mr. Chalabi visited the ayatollah’s office in Najaf. He later appeared at a news conference, declaring that Ayatollah Sistani told him the law was incomplete and that “there would be other drafts.”

[babylonsister]

3. Dammit! Chalibi is a war pig, just like the rest of them. UGH! nt

[cliss]

4. Isn't this just like a

Soap Opera?

Here we are, can't keep this country together. It's falling apart. And what does Congress do?

Tries to fix another country!!!!!

[Webster Green]

5. We fucking destroyed their country!

I got your fucking benchmarks, you mutherfuckers!!