America ‘muddling through’ Iraq

A new strategy in Iraq needs to be developed, according to a recent progress report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

When House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) referred to a “what’s next” question he posed to General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker in April, he said he was dissatisfied with the answer. Skelton noted that the ‘New Way Forward’ strategy was coming to an end with the departure of the Surge brigades from Iraq and said he was in favor of a change in approach. Skelton seemed frustrated with the Administration’s lack of foresight in developing a new strategy in advance of the end of the ‘New Way Forward.’ He said that America now has to ‘muddle through’ Iraq and decide if strategic changes should be made now or later when the strategies might be obsolete.

Gene Dodaro, acting comptroller general of the U.S. at the GAO, said a new strategy is necessary because the U.S. is currently committing a lot of resources and troops should be pulled out. Dodaro advised America to adopt a ‘stewardship standpoint’ to help Iraq with its transition. Joseph Christoff, international affairs and trade director at the GAO, added that America needed to continue training and equipping Iraq security forces. Christoff added that Iraq should use more of its oil revenue toward rebuilding and restructuring their country.

Despite his call for a new strategy, Dodaro provided some optimistic statistics regarding Iraq’s security. He said that violence, as measured by enemy-initiated attacks, has decreased by 80 percent and that the number of trained Iraqi security forces have increased substantially. With regards to the legislative area, Dodaro said that Iraq has enacted key legislation to return Ba’athists to government, grant amnesty to detained Iraqis and define provincial powers. Dodaro continued to describe Iraq’s economy and infrastructure. He said that Iraq only spent 24 percent of the $27 billion budgeted for reconstruction efforts and the average crude oil production capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day fell short of the U.S. goal of 3 million barrels per day.