Pentagon officials are angry with the Government Accountability Office, whose recent report disputes that the surge has reduced sectarian violence in Iraq. And with good reason: over the weekend, General David Petraeus boasted to The Australian that sectarian violence was down a staggering 75 percent in Baghdad, a “hugely important” figure he surely wants to trumpet before Congress next week. An anonymous DOD official insisted to the Washington Post that the GAO is “factually incorrect” on this important metric, but provided no evidence for the claim. And that fits a pattern for the Pentagon’s gripes with the GAO.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180002