US:Yesterday's White House report to Congress on progress in Iraq offers a more upbeat assessment of the situation than many on Capitol Hill expected, identifying eight areas where "satisfactory" progress is being made.
Where the other 10 political and military benchmarks are concerned, however, progress is either "unsatisfactory" or mixed. Democrats yesterday seized on the fact that the report is at its gloomiest when it examines the most important political challenges facing the Iraqi government.
There has been little progress towards agreement on how to share Iraq's oil revenues and no move to reform the law forbidding former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from serving in senior government positions, a restriction that almost exclusively affects the Sunni population.
Progress toward new elections, disarming militias and issuing an amnesty for those willing to end their fight against US and Iraqi government forces is uncertain, and the report suggests that US pressure to achieve these goals may not be a good idea "in the current environment".
The government in Baghdad has taken some steps towards protecting minority rights in the existing legislature and authorised the expenditure of $10 billion on provincial reconstruction projects - although little of the money has actually been spent.
The Iraqi government has delivered, after some delay, on its promise to contribute three army brigades to the US surge operation in Baghdad but the ability of its security forces to operate without US military assistance has grown more slowly than anticipated and in some aspects has declined.
Sectarian killings have fallen dramatically, notably in Baghdad, and "spectacular" insurgent car bomb attacks have decreased, although military commanders warn that the number of casualties from car bombs could rise again in July.
The White House report came a day after senior intelligence officials painted a much gloomier picture of the situation, telling a congressional committee that there has been no meaningful positive change in Iraq since January, when the National Intelligence Estimate warned that even if security improved, violent sectarian divisions threatened to destroy the government.
Thomas Fingar, the deputy director of national intelligence and chief of the National Intelligence Council, said the January assessment had been borne out by subsequent events.
"That assessment focused on the imperative for reducing levels of violence in the country as a prerequisite for beginning to restore confidence among the competing, fractured body politic and the groups in the political system," he told the house armed services committee.
Mr Fingar said that, although the US troop surge was having an effect, it was not having a sufficient impact on the violence to overcome obstacles towards political reconciliation. "It will be difficult and time-consuming to bridge the political gulf when violence levels are reduced, and they have not yet been reduced significantly," he said.
President George Bush yesterday disputed newspaper reports that a new intelligence assessment has concluded that al- Qaeda may now be as strong as it was prior to September 11th, 2001.
"Because of the actions we have taken, al-Qaeda is weaker today than they would have been. They are still a threat. They are still dangerous. And that is why it is important that we succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq and anywhere else we find them. That's our strategy, is to stay on the offence against al-Qaeda," he said.