October 10, 2003	Friday	Sha’aban 13, 1424

WASHINGTON, Oct 9: Some 30 Democratic lawmakers on Thursday demanded the immediate release of a confidential Pentagon report said to be highly critical of the United States’ administration of Iraq.

In a letter sent to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers, lawmakers called for the release of the report, entitled “Operation Iraqi Freedom Strategic Lessons Learned,” which outlines deficiencies in the administration’s post-war planning for Iraq.

The document, which includes several interviews with top US military officials, “concludes that the post-war agenda for Iraq was flawed, rushed and inadequately planned,” according to US Representative Robert Wexler of Florida.

“The American people are demanding answers to the problems we are facing in Iraq as Congress debates the president’s 87-billion-dollar funding request,” said Wexler, who was one of the signers of the letter.

The supplemental funding package was being considered by the House of Representatives’ appropriations subcommittee on Thursday.

Lawmakers said they are still waiting for the Pentagon to make good on its promise to deliver copies of the report to them before the upcoming vote on the White House funding request for Iraq and Afghanistan.—AFP