Sniping over Iraq

A congressional hearing examining a failing Iraq report card turned snippy Wednesday as Republicans moved to discredit government investigators as incompetent to make military assessments.

The report by the Government Accountability Office -- formerly the General Accounting Office -- found that the Iraqi government met three of 18 mostly political benchmarks, partially met four and failed to meet 11. Democrats have siezed on the findings to counter what they believe will be a more positive White House report later this month.

Republicans, meanwhile, noted that GAO investigators have no military experience and questioned whether bean-counteres should be examining the war and reconstruction effort.

"Generally people go to their accountaint not for leadership policy, but for auditing numbers,'' Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach/Long Beach told GAO Chief David Walker.

"I'm not saying you're out of your realm of experience,'' added Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida. But, she added "I just feel uncomfortable listening to a report by a government accounting office about our war effort."

Walker defended the integrity of the report and the investigators' qualifications. He also managed to get in a potshot of his own -- telling lawmakers who noted his lack of military experience, "It is my understanding that Secretary of Defense Gates does not have military experience either."