2006 First Quarter Report Card
In the first three months of 2006, the Bush administration has failed to achieve substantial progress on the security and reconstruction of Iraq, even though there have been some achievements in forming a democratic government. Thousands of U.S. soldiers and diplomats continue to serve their country bravely but they remain tied to the stay-the-course policies of President Bush and his top policy and political leadership. Judging the administration’s Iraq policy as a whole, the Center for American Progress gives the Bush administration a “D” for its performance in the first quarter of 2006.
This report follows last year’s vote by a bipartisan majority of 79 Senators which called on President Bush to put forward a strategy for “the successful completion of the mission in Iraq” and declared 2006 “to be a period of significant transition for Iraq.” This vote of no-confidence in the Bush administration’s Iraq policy prompted President Bush to mount a two-month public relations offensive, a campaign that left many unanswered questions. This report seeks to fill the gaps left unmet by the Bush administration’s incomplete status reports on Iraq.
Read full report (PDF)