Iraq grave and deteriorating, report warns US
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wednesday December 6, 11:58 PM
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Iraq grave and deteriorating, report warns US*
Iraq's plight is "grave and deteriorating" a top-level US panel has
warned, saying most combat troops could be withdrawn by early 2008 and
urging threats to force the Iraqi government to improve security.
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group also said the United States should
launch an "immediate" diplomatic initiative including talks with Iran
and Syria but warned there was "no guarantee" changes to US strategy
would work.
It said if Iraq continues get worse, its government could collapse and
ignite a "humanitarian catastrophe" prompting neighboring countries to
intervene and hand a propaganda victory to Al-Qaeda.
The 10-member bipartisan panel headed by political veterans James Baker
and Lee Hamilton handed its much-awaited report to President George W.
Bush, who said the 79 recommendations would be taken "very seriously"
without making any guarantees.
"The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating," warned the report, a
copy of which was obtained by AFP ahead of its public release .
"If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences will be
severe," it added Wednesday.
The report also called on Bush to launch a major effort to broker peace
between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Bush administration is also conducting its own internal review of
Iraq policy. But the president said: "This report gives a very tough
assessment of the situation in Iraq. It is a report that brings some
really very interesting proposals, and we will take every proposal
seriously, and we will act in a timely fashion."
The report will be officially released to Congress and unveiled to the
public later Wednesday. The group was to brief Iraq's Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki in a video conference from the White House.
Its release came on the day Bush's top war ally British Prime Minister
Tony Blair flies into Washington, after admitting that he agreed with
the assessment of Bush's pick for defense secretary Robert Gates that US
forces and their remaining allies were not winning the war.
The report recommends "extensive and substative" talks with Iran and
Syria. Bush has rejected direct talks with two US foes he accuses of
meddling in Iraq and fomenting instability in the wider Middle East.
Bush should also shed his reluctance to engage directly in Middle East
peacemaking, the report said.
"The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it
deals dierctly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability,"
read the report.
The Iraq Study Group also proposed a major drawdown of US troops in Iraq.
"By the first quarter of 2008, subject to unexpected developments in the
security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for
force protection could be out of Iraq."
A US rapid reaction force could be retained to strike against Al-Qaeda
and US forces would remain embedded with Iraqi units and in special
operations and force protection teams.
White House spokesman Tony pointed out however the report did not
include detailed timetables for a retreat -- a condition already
rejected by the White House.
"There is a recommendation that we do a surge in terms of increasing as
rapidly as possible the number of forces working as embeds," meaning
trainers, Snow said.
Bush has vowed US troops will remain in Iraq until their mission is
complete.
It remained unclear however, just how many recommendations the Bush
administration would pick up -- or if the report could impact
deteriorating conditions in Iraq, where tens of thousands of Iraqis have
been killed in bloody sectarian fighting between factions of the Shiite
majority and the once-dominant Sunnis.
Fighters from abroad have also traveled to battle the US-led forces.
The US military death toll in the conflict is beyond the 2,900 mark and
public dissatisfaction with the administration's handling of the
conflict was cited as the primary factor behind Bush's Republican Party
losing control of Congress in November's elections.
Many panel members have concluded that the Iraq war is essentially lost,
the Washington Post reported, citing private correspondence and
interviews with participants.
The Congress-mandated Iraq Study Group was created in March to study the
Iraq crisis. It has conducted scores of interviews, including Bush,
Blair, foreign diplomats, officials and academics.
In Iraq, Maliki said he was organizing a conference aimed at bringing
together the country's bitterly divided political and sectarian factions.
"We will agree on a charter of honor to end the shedding of Iraqi blood
and the sectarian conflict," Maliki told reporters Tuesday.
Sectarian and insurgent violence has continued unabated in Iraq with
dozens killed every day.