Iraqis also call it Imploding

GOVERNMENT REPORT CRITICIZES BUSH'S NATIONAL IRAQ STRATEGY:

Saleh al-Mutlak, a leading Sunni legislator, said sectarian rivalries are tearing apart the seven-week-old Maliki government. "This is a hopeless government. It has not done one good thing since it started, and things are getting worse, not better," he said. "The parliament cannot reach practical solutions because their minds are concerned only with their sect and not the interests of the nation. It looks like this government is going to collapse very soon." The country’s largest Sunni Arab bloc only recently ended its 10-day boycott of parliament. Sunni legislators had suspended their participation on July 2 after a colleague, Tayseer Najah al-Mashhadani, was kidnapped. The Iraqi police force is marked by rampant "brutality and corruption," undermining public confidence in the government. The inability of the Iraqi forces to "stand up" poses major problems to the Bush strategy. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released yesterday asserts that the Bush administration's National Strategy for Victory In Iraq "is inadequate and was poorly planned, backing up some politicians' charges that a prolonged stay in the country is only fueling sectarian violence." The GAO report recommends that the National Security Council outline a comprehensive strategy for Iraq with "milestones" and "metrics" so Congress can assess the progress and the problems on the ground. "We still don't know how long we're going to be there," GAO chief David Walker said. While in Baghdad, Rumsfeld refused to entertain a possible drawdown. "We haven't gotten to that point," he said.