Sunday, October 01, 2006

Defense Department Must Now Regularly Report on Iraq Progress

In the course of my duties as a journalist, I have to slog through a lot of documents that most people will never actually read. Usually it's a chore and makes me wonder what I'm doing, but occasionally you find things like this that make it all worthwhile. This is from this year's congressional report on the Defense Appropriations Act, which gives the military all that sweet, filthy lucre every year. This is binding, by the way.

"SEC. 9010.

(a) Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and every 90 days thereafter through the end of fiscal year 2007, the Secretary of Defense shall set forth in a report to Congress a comprehensive set of performance indicators and measures for progress toward military and political stability in Iraq.

(b) The report shall include performance standards and goals for security, economic, and security force training objectives in Iraq together with a notional timetable for achieving these goals."

These might not change any Republican hearts and minds, but they will become political fodder like you've never seen if Democrats take over the House or Senate and hold oversight hearings.

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