Iraqi children look at a U.S. soldier patrolling in the al-Allawi neighbourhood in central Baghdad. The Iraqi government has only reached 7 of its 18 political and security goals U.S. Congress set in May, said a newly-released report on Tuesday. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

The Iraqi government has only reached 7 of its 18 political and security goals U.S. Congress set in May, said a newly-released report on Tuesday.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), known as "investigative arm of Congress," made a less negative assessment on Baghdad's performance than what it did in the initial draft released late August that Iraq had failed all but three goals.

The goals that were met include establishing joint security stations in Baghdad, ensuring minority rights in the Iraqi legislature and creating support committees for the Baghdad security plan, said the report.

After the draft was rejected by the White House for it setting "the bar too high for Iraq," the GAO determined that another four Congressional mandated benchmarks had been partially met.

However, the GAO insisted the Iraqi government had failed in reaching a number of goals such as reducing sectarian violence and passing laws on oil revenue sharing.

"Of particular concern is the lack of progress on de-Ba'athification legislation that could promote greater Sunni participation in the national government and comprehensive hydrocarbon legislation that would distribute Iraq's vast oil wealth," it said.

The report came as Congress started hearings to assess the political and military progress in Iraq.

"Overall key legislation (of Iraq) has not been passed, violence remains high and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend 10 billion U.S. dollars in reconstruction funds," said U.S. Comptroller General David Walker at the hearing.

He said "average daily attacks against civilians have remained unchanged from February to July 2007" despite the augmented U.S. military in Iraq.

The GAO has published more than 100 assessments of various aspects of the U.S. effort in Iraq since May 2003 when the war began.

Apart from the GAO report, another two on Iraqi security, respectively from an independent commission set up by Congress and the White House, are expected to go public later this month and fuel the contention on U.S. military deployment in Iraq.

After the summer break of Congress was over on Monday, the Democratic lawmakers were seen to set the stage for another bid to compel troop withdrawals, while their Republican fellows have to decide whether to stand firm with the White House's war policy or bow to the public demand on a definite timetable to bring troops home from Iraq.