While the recent Government Accountability Office report on the 18 benchmarks set out by Congress in May gave a very pessimistic view, our data below, culled from official Iraqi and American sources and press reports, support a more mixed picture.
Unfortunately, at the moment the political paralysis seems to be a more powerful force than the military momentum, and progress in security is unsustainable without sectarian compromise among Iraq’s Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Shiites. The country remains very violent, and the economy rather stagnant.
Nonetheless, the military momentum appears real, despite the tragic multiple truck bombings in Ninevah Province on Aug. 14 that made that month the deadliest since winter.