Posted on 11/13/2006 5:12:46 AM PST by TexKat
WASHINGTON - Bearing down on a plan for peace, the bipartisan panel studying the war in Iraq faces rising expectations, with the public restless for change and political leaders eager for some help.
The Iraq Study Group will meet with President Bush and other White House officials Monday, a pivotal day of talks as the panel nears the end of its review. The group plans to announce its recommendations to Bush and Congress by the end of the year.
Even before it is finished, the report is seen by many in Washington as having huge stakes. It could give both parties a chance at consensus — or at least a tenable framework for agreement — after an election that gave Democrats congressional control and reshaped Bush's final two years in office.
"The president looks forward to sharing his thoughts with the Iraq Study Group, as do other administration officials," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, on Sunday. "He is open to any ideas and suggestions on the way forward."
The study group is led by Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana.
Members of the group were meeting with Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.
The group was also having individual meetings with Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte and CIA Director Michael Hayden.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also plans to speak to the commission via video link on Tuesday.
Baker has indicated the recommendations will fall somewhere between the "cut and run" strategy that Republicans like to say Democrats advocate, and the "stay the course" policy until recently used by the president and widely ridiculed by Democrats.
On Sunday, Bush's advisers adopted a new tone, days after a dissatisfied public handed the White House a divided government.
"Full speed ahead" in Iraq, as Cheney put it in the final days of the campaign, was replaced by repeated calls for a "fresh perspective" and an acknowledgment that "nobody can be happy" with the situation in Iraq.
"We clearly need a fresh approach," said Josh Bolten, Bush's chief of staff, making the rounds of morning talk shows.
Democrats, meanwhile, showed they were not all in accord on how to proceed in Iraq. Although party leaders back a multifaceted approach to stabilizing the country, lawmakers have not unified on when to bring troops home without risking more chaos in Iraq.
Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee, urged that U.S. troops begin coming home in phases within four months to six months. He and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the incoming chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, predicted many Republicans would support such a resolution now that the election is over.
"We have to tell Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over," Levin said.
Yet the Senate's top Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, did not seem to go as far. He said he thought the withdrawal of U.S. troops should began within a few months, but when asked if he would insist on a specific date, he said, "Absolutely not."
The administration will not support a timetable for drawing down troops, Bolten said.
Biden and Levin appeared on ABC's "This Week." Bolten appeared on ABC's "This Week, CBS' "Face the Nation" and "Late Edition" on CNN. Reid was on "Face the Nation."
This man is a joke. He wants the troops withdrawn in few months but he still does not want to put a date for withdrawal.
This man is a joke. He wants the troops withdrawn in few months but he still does not want to put a date for withdrawal.
So, what would have happened if the GOP had retained control of the Congress, or even the Senate?
Mr.Levin wants to pick up his marbles and go home he doesnt like this game.
on the other hand Mr.Bush wants to hang out and get sand kicked in his face and do nothing or very little about it.
Whatever happened to destroy the enemy ?
It appears to me that when we do leave Iran becomes the big winner oil prices will skyrocket and Israel will be fighting
for their lives alone.
The Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan group of prominent Americans supported by four premier institutions. It is led by co-chairs James A. Baker, III, the nation’s 61st Secretary of State and Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
The other members of the study group include: Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Edwin Meese III , Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and Alan K. Simpson.
Well, that proves my point. Not one active duty military man in the group. As long as politicians run a war, we will never win.
An inelegant but accurate assessment, and one that explains the voters' recent mood. As the saying goes, a dumb plan is better than no plan. For a long time, President Bush won that flip of the coin, because he seemed to have a plan for Iraq. It wasn't always a particularly popular one, but it was better than nothing.
Once voters got the sense that "stay the course" was a code phrase for "I don't know what to do next", the coin toss went to the Democrats. "Cut and run" or "phased withdrawl" may be inarticulate or dumb plans, but they're plans.
"As long as politicians run a war, we will never win."
That deserves to be repeated. How 'bout we have the War Colleges game this thing and come up with a solution, instead of relying on retread advisors from previous administrations?
Associated Press Josh Bolten says Rumsfeld decision "does not belong in the political realm."
Delay on Rumsfeld defended; Iraq called 'worse than we thought'
From News Wire Services 11/13/2006
WASHINGTON - The White House is trying to soothe Republicans who say the party might have fared better on Election Day if President Bush had not waited until after the vote to oust Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "You could argue that either way, of what political effect an earlier decision on Secretary Rumsfeld would have had. But it doesn't matter," Josh Bolten, White House chief of staff, said Sunday on the ABC-TV program "This Week."
"The president correctly decided that this decision does not belong in the political realm. And a decision as important as your secretary of defense should not be made based on some partisan political advantage. It would send a terrible signal to our troops, to our allies, even to our enemies," Bolten said.
Late last week, Leon Panetta, a member of the high-powered advisory group that will recommend new options for the war in Iraq, said in an interview that the situation is "even worse than we thought," with key Iraqi leaders showing no willingness to compromise to avoid increasing violence.
The Iraq Study Group, including Panetta, plans to meet with President Bush and his national security team today in the White House and to gather more data on the war through briefings and interviews this week. Panetta was chief of staff during the administration of former President Bill Clinton.
The blue-ribbon group, headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, plans to make recommendations next month on new ways to handle the war. Members said they wanted to wait until after the election, to remove a debate about Iraq from campaign pressures.
After the election, their influence grew and their job became more urgent.
Fueled by discontent over the war, the Democrats scored a sweeping victory, retaking the House and the Senate. U.S. casualties have mounted in recent weeks. Bush signaled new flexibility on Iraq last week by replacing Rumsfeld with former CIA chief Robert Gates - a member of the Iraq Study Group before accepting his new job.
Many officials in Washington say they hope this group of insiders will offer a way out of Iraq and give some political cover to Bush and a Democratic Congress.
"The pressure on us just went up a few hundred degrees," said Panetta, a former Democratic congressman from California.
Panetta would not discuss the options the group is considering, noting that members have not reached a consensus, but talked about what he has learned about Iraq. The group spent three days in Baghdad in early September and has been briefed by military, intelligence and diplomatic officials.
Private assessments by government officials are much more grim than what is said in public, Panetta said, "and we left some of those sessions shaking our heads over how bad it is in Iraq."
U.S. forces can't control sectarian violence and powerful militias. One of the most disturbing findings, Panetta said, is that many Shiite religious leaders who are a big part of the government have no interest in deals or compromises with Sunnis and other groups, and are "playing for time because they say it's their show."
After years of Bush administration rhetoric about establishing democracy in Iraq, Panetta said the only achievable goal is a rough stability, "which can't be done by the military. It requires political reconciliation."
One scaled-down goal, he added, is "how do you maintain a low-level civil war so it doesn't blow up into a full-scale civil war?"
The Iraq group is looking at an array of options, including a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces, an accelerated training of Iraqi forces and diplomatic efforts to involve Iraq's neighbors, according to several media accounts.
Some congressional leaders and retired generals criticized Rumsfeld for arrogance and an inability to admit mistakes and make adjustments in Iraq. Gates will be different, Panetta said.
Albright calls for new Iraq policy
By Laura Hancock
Deseret Morning News
SUNDANCE — President Bush's selection of Robert Gates to replace Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense will not solve all of the problems in Iraq, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said.
"I think it's nice, but that's not the issue," Albright said Sunday at Robert Redford's Sundance resort. "Policy has to change, not the people."
Albright discussed politics and religion Sunday night at the Sundance Summit, a conference for mayors and their staffs from across the United States that will continue through Tuesday.
Albright was secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, the first woman to serve in the post. Before that, she represented the United States in the United Nations. She now teaches at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and recently wrote a book about religion and politics, "The Mighty and the Almighty."
In a 45-minute question-and-answer session led by public radio host Doug Fabrizio, Albright made a prediction about Iraq she said she hopes is incorrect: "I'm afraid Iraq is going to go down in history as the greatest disaster in foreign policy."
The Viet- nam con- flict was devastating in the number of American lives lost, but the invasion of Iraq could have implications for other parts of the Middle East, she said.
Albright believes that last week's elections, in which Democrats captured majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, will empower a bipartisan panel of political leaders studying Iraq including former Secretary of State James Baker.
"I think there is going to be a lot of looking at the suggestions coming from Jim Baker," Albright said.
Baker has been advocating for talking with enemies such as Iran and North Korea, and Albright agrees.
"And talking is not appeasement," she said.
As for the environment, Albright believes the United States should be involved in efforts to stop or reverse global warming because the atmosphere knows no boundaries, she said.
But she believes the United States lost moral authority on the environment by not signing the Kyoto Treaty, which seeks for industrialized countries to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses emissions by about 5 percent from 1990 levels.
Albright suggested the mayors work with their international sister cities on reducing emissions.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650206734,00.html
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