Analysis: Compromise on Iraq Benchmarks?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, arrives at the CBS studio, Sunday, April 29, 2007, in Washington. President Bush will not support a war spending bill that punishes the Iraqi government for failing to meet benchmarks for progress, Secretary Rice said Sunday. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP)

"If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people _ and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people," the president said.

He also said the Iraqis would increase their own commitment to quell sectarian violence, and he noted several other promises the Iraqi government had made.

These included approving legislation to share oil revenue among all Iraqis, spending $10 billion on job-creating reconstruction projects, holding provincial elections, overhauling de-Baathification laws and creating a fair process for considering amendments to the constitution.

"America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced," Bush said.

In his speech, the president did not threaten any specific consequences for the government _ or any impact on U.S. participation in the war _ if the benchmarks were not met.

Republicans in the House and Senate, too, have embraced the benchmark concept, along the lines Bush favors.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona and other Republicans introduced legislation in February saying that Iraq's political leaders "must show visible progress toward meeting" 11 benchmarks, including those the president laid out.

In the House, Republicans backed a different version that several GOP aides say was intended to signal to the administration as well as the Iraqi government _ and the public _ that patience was limited.

It called on Bush to certify every 30 days that the Iraqi government was "fully cooperating" with U.S. efforts in the country in several areas. Among them were purging its security forces of members with ties to insurgents and denying terrorists sanctuaries on Iraqi territory. Iraq also was to have "made demonstrable progress" toward completing a purge of security forces of all members with ties to insurgents, sectarian militias and terrorism.

Democrats inserted benchmarks into the legislation that Bush is expected to veto later this week.

Under the measure, the Iraqi government would be called on to meet standards for developing its own forces, giving the United States the authority to pursue extremists, establishing a militia disarmament program, pursuing reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite Iraqis, revising its de-Baathification program, enacting legislation to allocate oil resources, reducing sectarian violence and protecting minority rights.

The particulars are similar to the benchmarks Bush laid out last winter.

But Democrats went one step further, specifically tying the Iraqi government's progress to the U.S. military's deployment.

Under the soon-to-be-vetoed bill, if Bush cannot certify by July 1 that Iraq is meeting the benchmarks, the United States "shall commence to redeploy" troops by that date.

Otherwise, the withdrawal would begin on Oct. 1.

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EDITOR'S NOTE _ David Espo is AP's chief congressional correspondent.