Bush reports progress on local level in Iraq

President Bush told the American people Saturday that progress is being made in Iraq “from the ground up,” with reconciliation taking place at the local level.

Bush pointed to Anbar province, often mentioned by supporters of U.S. policy as an area of progress in Iraq, as evidence of success for the plan he outlined in January, which included the so-called “surge” of additional U.S. troops deployed to the war-torn country.

{mosads}That plan also included adding Provincial Reconstruction Teams, whose goal is to promote economic and political rebuilding in Iraq’s provinces, and changes in rules of engagement procedures for joint U.S.-Iraqi military operations. Bush said Saturday that the U.S. has doubled the number of Provincial Reconstruction Teams since January.

“They bring together military, civilian, and diplomatic personnel to help Iraqi communities rebuild infrastructure, create jobs, and encourage reconciliation from the ground up,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “These teams are now deployed throughout the country, and they are helping Iraqis make political gains, especially at the local level.”

Bush told Americans they “can be encouraged by the progress and reconciliation that are taking place at the local level,” pointing to local sheikhs and tribesmen in Anbar who have joined with U.S. forces to drive out violent tribal and sectarian groups.

“Unfortunately, political progress at the national level has not matched the pace of progress at the local level,” Bush said, but added that oil revenue sharing is taking place without the Iraqi parliament having met its key benchmark of passing legislation to deal with oil revenue distribution. Bush said that the Shia-led Iraqi government has allocated $2 billion of oil revenue to provinces, with Sunni-controlled Anbar receiving a “significant” share.

The Iraqi parliament adjourned for a month-long recess at the beginning of August without having passed oil revenue sharing laws or de-Baathification reforms, both key benchmarks outlined by the U.S.

Members of Congress have expressed displeasure that the Iraqi parliament has not moved faster to pass these laws. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked earlier this month why U.S. troops should put their lives on the line “in a civil war when the Iraqi government refuses to take the political steps necessary to end the sectarian violence?”

On returning from a trip to Iraq earlier this month, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said one of the benefits of going to Iraq was to meet face to face with Iraqi leaders and assess the political situation there because “you cannot often get a sense, with the body language, of the lack of urgency over the telephone.”