Ever wonder why nothing ever really happens in Washington – even when crisis demands urgent action?  It’s because nobody goes to the trouble of obeying the law. Present U.S. law (signed by the president on May 25, 2007 and available here) dictates that “U.S. strategy in Iraq shall be conditioned on the Iraqi government meeting specified political, security, and economic benchmarks….”  This approach is endorsed prior to the law’s passage by President Bush, who states (here) on January 10 that “America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced.”   And the benchmarks? The Iraqi government endorses them (here) on May 3.  The U.S. Congress enshrines the benchmarks in H.R. 2206.   Bush’s signature releases funds to keep our military and reconstruction effort going in Iraq.

At this point, things are still making sense.  In H.R. 2206, Congress charges the Government Accountability Office with assessing how well the Iraqi government has met the benchmarks it set for itself.  On September 7, Comptroller General David Walker releases the GAO’s report stating that the Iraqi government “met 3, partially met 4, and did not meet 11 of its 18 benchmarks,” noting that Iraq “has not enacted legislation on de-Ba’athification, oil revenue sharing, provincial elections, and militia disarmament.” (full report here)

What else do we need to know?  The law signed by the president prohibits the United States from spending more money on Iraq “unless and until the President certifies that the Iraqi government is making sufficient progress in each of the benchmarks.”  The law also allows the president to waive the benchmarks if he submits to Congress “a detailed justification for the waiver.”

Tonight we’ll hear from President Bush about how he plans to proceed in Iraq.  No official in his government has posited that the Iraqi government “is making sufficient progress in each of the benchmarks.”  The policy process has worked: benchmarks have been set, competent specialists have checked results on the ground against these standards, and our government has determined that Iraqi government has not done its job.  So, will the president allow this process to continue on the path laid down in the law and cleared by the government over which he presides? Or will he grab the wheel and swerve off in a direction of his own choosing?  Each time the president chooses his own road, we end up further from the rule of law, and further from the firm ground, formed by the Constitution and strengthened by the mechanisms of government, on which reliable and defensible decisions must be made.  We remain stuck in the Iraq quagmire because we refuse to use the levers – and laws – we have available to pull us out.

Ned Hodgman

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