A major report on the progress, or the lack of progress, in Iraq is due in about a month. A Missouri Congressman who will get a full report anxiously awaits its findings.
West-Central Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton, a Democrat, says his US House Armed Services Committee expects a forthright assessment from General David Patraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.
The report will cover three areas: the military effort of the United States and its allies, the training of Iraqi forces to take control of the country’s defenses and the progress to bring a stable democratic government to Iraq. It appears the troop surge has helped improve the military effort, but Skelton has not seen the progress he wants to see on the other two fronts. Skelton says it doesn’t appear like the Iraq military is even close to being able to take over the country’s defense and he says there seems to be little progress in the Iraqi government on targets Washington has set for them.
Skelton, along with everyone else in Washington, anxiously awaits the mid-September assessment. He says it has been built up as a major report to determine the future of Iraq and the United States’ participation in it. Skelton says, "Maybe it has been overblown, but we will see."
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