''It's plain and simple -- they have abandoned us,'' Diaz said to the hundreds of mayors gathered for his induction ceremony. ``They engage in endless debate and partisan bickering, while people throughout this country suffer.'' 

Diaz cited federal budget cuts in housing, education, and crime-fighting as proof of Washington's failure to invest in cities. 

But with a national election looming, Diaz said mayors have a chance to demand a greater commitment from the next president.

Forging ties with both major candidates seeking the White House will be ''priority number one'' as he assumes the new national post, Diaz said in an interview.

While agreeing with the administration that violence has decreased sharply, a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office concluded that many other goals Bush outlined a year and a half ago in the "New Way Forward" strategy remain unmet.

The report, after a bleak GAO assessment last summer, cited little improvement in the ability of the Iraqi security forces to act independently of the U.S. military, and noted that key legislation passed by the Iraqi parliament had not been implemented while other crucial laws had not been passed. The report also judged that key Iraqi ministries spent less of their allocated budgets last year than in previous years, and said that oil and electricity production had repeatedly not met U.S. targets.

Bush's strategy of January 2007, the GAO said, "defined the original goals and objectives that the Administration believed were achievable by the end of this phase in July 2008." Not meeting many of them changed circumstances on the ground and the pending withdrawal of the last of the additional U.S. forces mean that strategy is now outdated, the report said. The GAO recommends that the State and Defense departments work together to fashion a new approach.