Download Locations:
Summary:
Operation Iraqi Freedom overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime, but much of Iraq remains violent because of Sunni Arab resentment and a related insurgency, compounded by Sunni-Shiite violence that a January 2007 national intelligence estimate (NIE) said has key elements of a "civil war." Mounting U.S. casualties and financial costs -- without clear overall improvements in levels of violence or political reconciliation among Iraq's major communities -- have intensified a debate within the United States over whether to wind down U.S. involvement without completely accomplishing initial U.S. goals. President Bush announced a new strategy on January 10, 2007 ("New Way Forward") consisting of deployment of at an additional 28,500 U.S. forces to help stabilize Baghdad and restive Anbar Province. The strategy is intended to provide security conditions conducive to Iraqi government action on a series of key reconciliation initiatives that are viewed as "benchmarks" of political progress. The FY2007 supplemental appropriation, P.L. 110-28, linked some U.S. reconstruction aid to progress on the benchmarks, but allows for a presidential waiver to continue the aid even if little or no progress were observed in Administration reports due July 15, 2007 and September 15, 2007. According to the required July 15, 2007 Administration report, released on July 12, the Baghdad security plan has made progress on several military indicators and some political indicators, but progress is unsatisfactory on the most important political reconciliation indicators. The Administration report asserts that the "overall trajectory... has begun to stabilize." U.S. officials assert that the security plan builds on important successes: two elections (January and December 2005) that chose an interim and then a full-term parliament and government; a referendum that adopted a permanent constitution (October 15, 2005); progress in building Iraq's security forces; and economic growth. Some in Congress -- as well as the Iraq Study Group -- believe that the United States should begin winding down U.S. combat involvement in Iraq. Both chambers adopted a FY2007 supplemental appropriation to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (H.R. 1591) that would have set an outside deadline of March 31, 2008 for U.S. combat withdrawal if the President did not certify Iraqi progress on the "benchmarks; "President Bush vetoed it on May 1, 2007. Some bills support the Iraq Study Group's various recommendations, while additional legislative efforts seek to reduce or wind down the U.S. combat commitment in Iraq in the short term. This report is updated regularly. See also CRS Report RS21968, Iraq: Government Formation and Performance, by Kenneth Katzman; CRS Report RL31833, Iraq: Recent Developments in Reconstruction Assistance, by Curt Tarnoff; CRS Report RL31701, Iraq: U.S. Military Operations, by Steve Bowman; and CRS Report RL33793, Iraq: Regional Perspectives and U.S. Policy, coordinated by Christopher Blanchard.
