Bush pressed to change course in Iraq, Middle East (2nd Roundup)

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By Tony Czuczka Dec 6, 2006, 20:46 GMT

Washington - A high-level panel Wednesday urged US President George W Bush to change course in Iraq, calling for diplomacy with foes Syria and Iran and a possible pullout of most US combat troops by early 2008 to help reverse a 'grave and deteriorating' situation. Iraq Study Group Co-chairmen James A. Baker (L) and Lee Hamilton appear at a news conference about the study group's findings on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday 06 December 2006. The bi-partisan commission released their written report Wednesday of their nine-month look at the situation in Iraq. EPA/JONATHAN ERNST

Iraq Study Group Co-chairmen James A. Baker (L) and Lee Hamilton appear at a news conference about the study group's findings on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday 06 December 2006. The bi-partisan commission released their written report Wednesday of their nine-month look at the situation in Iraq. EPA/JONATHAN ERNSTCo-led by former US secretary of state James Baker III, the 10- member group said US policy in Iraq 'is not working.' Its long- awaited report also calls for a new push for Arab-Israeli peacemaking, which it says is it a condition for achieving US goals in the Middle East. 'There is no magic formula that will solve the problems of Iraq,' Baker said in presenting the report in Washington. 'It is time to find a new way forward, a new approach.' In its 79 recommendations, the panel encouraged Bush to tell Iraqi leaders that US patience is limited and that troop reductions 'cannot be made hostage to the actions or inactions of the Iraqi government.' Bush has staunchly opposed reaching out to Iran and Syria, viewing them as part of the problem in Iraq. He has also refused to offer any hint of a timetable for a US troop withdrawal, saying this would embolden US enemies. Faced with a bleak assessment, Bush pledged to take the Iraq Study Group's ideas seriously and 'act in a timely fashion.' But he said he was unlikely to accept all of the proposals. Bush has vowed to fight until victory, but the report warned that even his goal of building an Iraq that can 'govern, sustain and defend itself' - which the panel endorsed - may be unreachable. 'The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating,' the report said. 'There is no path that can guarantee success, but the prospects can be improved.' Bush's spokesman noted that the administration had already taken up some of the suggestions, including putting US pressure on Iraqi leaders to stop sectarian killings and take on more security tasks. 'We look at this as a very positive document,' Tony Snow told reporters. Its title, The Way Forward - A New Approach, is 'what the president has been talking about,' Snow said. The group, launched in March by the US Congress, said its proposals would help shore up US global interests and unite Americans behind a strategy of eventual disengagement in Iraq. 'A military solution will not end the violence in Iraq,' Baker said. 'We must help the Iraqis help themselves.' The report called for a sharp boost in the number of US troops training Iraqi forces, allowing US soldiers to shift to a support role while the Iraqi army takes over primary responsibility for combat operations. US combat troops 'not necessary for force protection' could be withdrawn by the first quarter of 2008 if the security situation allows, the report said. It also called for a broad diplomatic initiative on Iraq involving the United Nations, the European Union, US regional allies like Saudi Arabia but also US enemies Iran and Syria. 'Given the ability of Iran and Syria to influence events within Iraq and their interest in avoiding chaos in Iraq, the United States should try to engage them constructively,' the report said. The group also called for a 'renewed and sustained commitment to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts.' 'The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability,' the report said. Baker expressed sympathy for the fate of ordinary Iraqis since the US-led invasion in March 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. 'Struggling in a world of fear, the Iraqis themselves dare not dream,' Baker said Wednesday. 'They have been liberated from the nightmare of a tyrannical order, only to face the nightmare of brutal violence.' The US 'has both a national and a moral interest in doing what it can to give Iraqis an opportunity to avert anarchy,' the report said. Bush received the group's report at the White House hours before its public release and said its assessment of Iraq was 'very tough.' Pressure to bring US troops home or at least move more of them out of harm's way has grown dramatically since Bush's centre-right Republican Party lost November 7 congressional elections to the centre-left Democrats, who campaigned for an exit strategy from Iraq. Baker, 76, is a Bush family friend and veteran troubleshooter who served Bush's father as secretary of state. A Republican, he co- chaired the panel with former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. Other members included former top aides in the Clinton and Reagan administrations. Bush aides have rejected speculation that the report will offer a fig-leaf for a retreat from Iraq, where months of gruesome sectarian killings and a fractious government have blighted US hopes for a stable democracy. Bush plans to weigh the panel's ideas as part of a broader review of strategy in Iraq, which includes an assessment by US military commanders. Wednesday's proposals offered no dramatic departures from ideas that have kept Washington abuzz for months. But signs that the Bush administration is looking to cut its engagement are increasing. Defence secretary nominee Robert Gates, at his confirmation hearing Tuesday in the Senate, said that the US is 'not winning' in Iraq. He said he would explore a 'wide range' of ideas to conclude the war and insisted that 'all options are on the table,' though he avoided specifics. Gates, a former head of the CIA spy agency, was tapped when Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned the day after the election, making way for what Bush pledged would be a fresh approach at the Pentagon after three-and-a-half years of war in Iraq. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Did Anyone Bother to Ask the Iraqis'?Dec 6th, 2006 - 22:28:13

Seriously, ask the Iraqi gov't if THEY want this...

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What a Crock...Dec 7th, 2006 - 00:31:58

The 10 member election committee has spoken. They want to get this greenlighted for 2008. If bush caves on this, he is worthless.

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Read it, saw Meese...?Dec 7th, 2006 - 01:57:17

The report is so inconclusive that it's hard to see where Bush is NOT meeting the recommendations.

What a sham. The whole thing is designed to make it look like something it is not.

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President ChiracDec 7th, 2006 - 17:09:49

The only mystery here is why it has taken the US to reach these conclusions? It has been patently obvious to most of the world (from before the invasion) what the result would be.

Remove a 'strong' leader from an ethnically diverse 'country' and what you will find is that - you need a strong leader to hold it together. We have seen what happened to Yugoslavia after Tito.

Remove the military and civil service after removing a dictator (cf. Romania after Cuacescu) and what you would find is chaos. Fortunately the Romanian people had more sense than the US and simply renamed the Communist Party the Social Democrats and carried on as before. Not exactly utopian democracy but only a handful died in the process.

I have said this before, but might as well repeat it, you yanks should get out more. Bush had only been overseas twice before becoming President (he didn't even make it to Vietnam. Yanks go abroad once every 15 years compared with brits more than once a year. Experience counts for something. You will never get foreign policy right until you start traveling.

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Sprintracer4 on the Surrender CommitteeDec 7th, 2006 - 17:57:31

Let me see if I understand this correctly:

541 elected politicians, seem to think, for whatever reason, that they need an ADDITIONAL group of people, who are NOT elected, to point out obvious facts, and some non-facts, for the purpose of guiding 541 elected officials and, literally the THOUSANDS, of people who work for them. Whitehouse? Note enough. Dept. of State? Not enough. CIA? Not enough. Congress? Not enough. US Military? Still not enough...

The results were stellar,allegedly, like recomendation #19:

'...the President and his National Security team need to...keep in close contact with...the Iraqi government...'

Brilliant. Do they really think we do not see through this?

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Get RealDec 7th, 2006 - 18:07:24

So tell me Sprintracer ... would you suggest we keep doing what isn't working instead?

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Get RealDec 7th, 2006 - 20:21:47

A bit of info for my friend Sprintracer ....

What the Iraq Study Group proposed is called a 'comprehensive' plan.

Let me explain to you what that words means, since you apparently don't understand it.

A comprehensive plan is a list of 'everything' they see as necessary to do for success, not just the new stuff. And yes, a comprehensive plan will include the obvious, as you pointed out in your one example. And yes, it will include 'some' of what Bush is already doing too.

But most importantly, it will include things the Bush administration is not doing, or has refused to do, that they have determined will be helpful in achieving success.

You point out 1 of the recommendations (One of the obvious ones). There are 78 others.

Got that?

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President ChiriacDec 7th, 2006 - 21:52:14

FAO Sprintracer (or should it be Sphincter?)

It is precisely because of the list you make that you are in the brown stuff. Everybody knows what they think (i.e. you have never been on the right track) - that is everybody but your beloved neocons and Comander in Chief. They trump the whole list and you know that. Consequently we have never heard from them except from the odd leak. Well you have now seen the result of following the neocons. The US has lost all credibility and with it the threat of force. You are now impotent against Iran and North Korea.

Everything you do seems to have the opposite effect. You have lost Iraq and with that the whole plan to dominate the Middle East. Lebanon is now on the same path and Iran and Syria are strengthened. You are even advised to crawl to them to get you out of trouble. While you have been distracted in Iraq South America has moved further leftwards, Russia is asserting itself and China looms.

It will take a whole generation for the rest of the world to stop laughing at your blind faith in idiot neocons and a President who is a joke. Bush and the Republicans have been a disaster for you. Get a life and move on concentrate on medicare and leave foreign policy to real men.

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FrankDec 9th, 2006 - 18:02:49

Have you ever heard of 'Selective Editing'.You just pick out all the good bits you like to read and dismiss the rest.This is exactly what G.W.Bush has done with the Iraq Study Group report.So what was the point of the ISG in the first place?

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