U.S. Releases ‘Fantasy’ Report on Iraq

The daily slammed the U.S. administration’s downplay of the real risks taken by the U.S. troops in Iraq, describing the report as very much optimistic and has nothing to do with the real world.

"Not mentioned in the Panglossian report, covering the 100 days after President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, were the 56 American soldiers killed in attacks during that period.

Some 60 U.S. soldiers have been killed in resistance attacks, while another 60 have died in non-combat incidents since the White House declared major combat operations in Iraq over on May 1, according to an AFP account.

"In Iraq today, American soldiers die, electricity shortages lead to rioting, and the threat of terrorism against civilians must be taken increasingly seriously. The biggest problems have been airbrushed out of the White House report, making it read more like a Bush campaign flier than a realistic accounting to the American people," the Times said.

Earlier in the week, frustrated Iraqis took to the street in the southern city of Basra Iraqis to protest their deplorable conditions under occupation and the failure to restore order in the oil-rich country after more than four months since the U.S. troops had rolled into Baghdad.

Iraqis charged that the U.S.-led occupation authority deliberately cut off electricity and water as a collective punishment in retaliation for mounting resistance attacks.

"In the face of news reports detailing continued insecurity, failing basic services and painstakingly slow political progress, the White House cites significant signs of better security, improved basic services and emerging democracy," the daily added.

‘Scrambling For Support’

The paper further said the Bush administration is "scrambling" now to line up countries willing to support the U.S. troops in their uphill days in Iraq after finding themselves trapped in a quagmire, rebuffing a U.N. broad-scale participation in rebuilding postwar Iraq.

Quoting U.S. administration officials, the daily said Thursday that the U.S. has abandoned the idea of giving the world body more of a role in reconstructing Iraq as sought by France, India and other countries as a condition for their participation in peacekeeping there.

Arab foreign ministers unanimously rebuffed Tuesday, August 5, an American request to send troops to stabilize Iraq.

The United Nations Security Council is meanwhile set to vote later Thursday on a U.S.-drafted resolution that would, but not formally, recognize Iraq’s interim Governing Council.

The paper slammed the administration’s exaggeration of evidence on alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq and links with Al Qaeda.

On July 30, the Bush administration came under a barrage of criticisms from members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who charged the administration had "shifted justification" of the Iraq war from alleged weapons of mass destruction to simply the human rights violations of ousted president Saddam Hussein.

"Many of today’s problems in Iraq can be traced to the Bush administration’s tendency to credit what it wants to believe rather than more realistic accounts," the Times concluded.