New Iraq report: 15 of 18 benchmarks met

No matter who is elected president in November, his foreign policy team will have to deal with one of the most frustrating realities in Iraq: the slow pace with which the government in Baghdad operates.

Iraq's political and military success is considered vital to U.S. interests, whether troops stay or go. And while the Iraqi government has made measurable progress in recent months, the pace at which it's done so has been achingly slow.

The White House sees the progress in a particularly positive light, declaring in a new assessment to Congress that Iraq's efforts on 15 of 18 benchmarks are "satisfactory" — almost twice of what it determined to be the case a year ago.

[this article is a riot: the AP just hates reporting good news in Iraq and is incapable of not spinning it as negatively as possible. Iraq's government is slow? Only moving on 15 of 18 benchmark while bullets are flying? While our government has done what? And progress on 15 of 18 counts is 'particularly positive' ? comical. they just can't help themselves]

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