I could have sworn just a few days ago

That the GAO report leaked to the press (because someone was afraid “improvements” to the progress reported therein would be made under pressure) stated that only three of the 18 goals set by Congress had been met. . . wait, here it is, just last Thursday:

Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals
GAO Draft at Odds With White House

Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.

The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.

And yet today, I pick up the paper (so to speak) and find that:

GAO: Iraq Hasn’t Met 11 of 18 Benchmarks

Violence in Iraq remains high, fewer Iraqi security forces are capable of acting independently, and the Baghdad legislature has failed to reach major political agreements needed to curb sectarian violence, says a report released Tuesday.

The study by the Government Accountability Office is a blunt assessment that challenges President Bush’s findings on the war as he prepares to announce plans for the U.S. military campaign, which has cost the lives of more than 3,700 U.S. troops since it began in 2003.

The White House dismissed GAO’s findings as a static view of progress in Iraq, despite its successful efforts to temper some of the more minor findings in the report. After receiving substantial resistance from the White House, the GAO determined that Iraq has partially met four out of 18 political and security goals — two more than identified in an earlier draft report.

That would mean that the GAO report was revised to indicate that 4 more goals had been “partially met”. Well, perhaps one of the goals was “Ability to sneak the President into isolated, well-fortified bases for a Photo Op.”

Why was the draft of the GAO report leaked last Thursday, you might ask?

The person who provided the draft report to The Post said it was being conveyed from a government official who feared that its pessimistic conclusions would be watered down in the final version — as some officials have said happened with security judgments in this month’s National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.

Mission Accomplished!