More on O'Hanlongate Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

Some intrepid reporting from Spencer Ackerman has turned up more detail as O'Hanlon responds to the pressure and puts up more "transparent" version.

On a scale of 0 to 1 for each category, we accord a 1 for the pensions law, and for the 2008 budget.

We then estimate half points for six categories: passing of the reformed de-Baathification law (which may or may not work out as well as intended in the actual implementation), purging extremists from the government (which is going fairly well but largely at U.S. insistence and cajoling), hiring Sons of Iraq into the security forces (again, going well, but there is some interest from the Shia-led government in limiting the number of Sons of Iraq who can join security forces as opposed to gaining other types of government jobs), passing of the amnesty law (again, the law is promising, but implementation is key), central government sharing of money with the provinces (far better than before, but still needing to progress further), and passing of the provincial powers act (recently passed, but also recently vetoed, leaving it in some limbo).

We accord the Iraqis 0 for resolving Kirkuk, for creating a permanent hydrocarbons law, and for passing a provincial election law.

This is one of the dumber things I’ve seen in a while.  Can someone please explain what any of this means?  There are certain things that just don’t translate into numerical analysis.  Everyone of these benchmarks requires at least 2-3 paragraphs just to explain the situation.  Half a sentence and a number ranking just doesn’t do it.  O’Hanlon might consider taking a look at some of Brian Katulis’s work and actually build a coherent argument. 

Comments

[Don Bacon]

The US Government long ago established eight key areas as pillars of US strategy in Iraq.

The Eight Pillars
---------------
1 Defeat terrorists, neutralize insurgents
2 Transition Iraq to Security self-reliance
3 Help Iraqis forge a compact for democratic governance
4 Help Iraq build government capacity and essential services
5 Help Iraq strengthen the economy
6 Help Iraq strengthen the rule of law
7 Increase international support for Iraq
8 Strengthen public understanding of coalition efforts and public isolation of the insurgents
---------------

Two military pillars, one economic, three political, one diplomatic and one propaganda

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:sRhhiNbGqxMJ:www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/iraq_national_strategy_20051130.pdf+iraq+the+eight+key+areas+identified+as+pillars+of+U.S.+Government+policy.&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Security in Iraq (they say) is no longer a problem. We all know that the "terrorists" have been virtually defeated due to the remarkable efforts of General Petraeus. SecDef Gate reported in January that "Over the past year, Iraqi security forces have grown in capability, confidence and size, expanding by more than a hundred thousand." There are now eleven Iraqi Army Divisions in the field and the IA is in full charge of most Iraqi Provinces. (So why are US force levels being maintained?)
http://www.longwarjournal.org/oob/index.php
http://www.longwarjournal.org/multimedia/ITL1107.php

How are we doing in the political and diplomatic spheres? According to the most recent US State Department Iraq Weekly Status Report on the Eight Pillars, under "political", is the following: Charges against Ministry of Health Officials Dropped, U.S. Accepting More Iraqi Refugees, Iraqis Begin Processing Amnesty Applications and Execution of Chemical Ali Approved.

Under diplomatic: Talabani to Visit Turkey, Proposal to Increase European Union Involvement in Iraq, Iranian President's Iraq Visit Ends with Seven MoUs and $1 Billion Loan, and BBC Prepares to Launch New Arabic-language News Channel.
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/101940.pdf

This useless information was obviously taken from wire service news reports. This inability of the US government to report to the American public what's actually going on in Iraq, specifically progress on the Eight Pillars, as advertised, leaves the door wide open for others to come up with their own cockamamie appraisals.