Posted on 12/09/2006 9:01:36 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Steady condemnation from conservatives for the Iraq Study Group report may be providing some cover to the Bush administration as it completes its own review of strategy in Iraq, apparently with little enthusiasm for the panel's prescription of U.S. troop withdrawal and dialogue with Syria and Iran.
The criticism of the panel, co-chaired by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former representative Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), has burst forth from the leading institutions of the right: the National Review, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the Weekly Standard; conservative talk radio; and scholars at some of Washington's top think tanks.
President Bush has spoken favorably of the panel's work as an opportunity to bring the country together, but he has been noncommittal on its key recommendations. Comments from the hawkish right, meanwhile, have often been an accurate gauge of the beliefs of key figures inside the Bush administration, especially Vice President Cheney.
Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers have embraced the panel's report, but the almost uniformly negative reaction from some of Bush's strongest conservative supporters means the president may have some political flexibility to depart from the group's major recommendations, according to some GOP operatives.
Notably fueling the skepticism has been Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has raised pointed questions about the Baker-Hamilton panel's unwillingness to prescribe more troops, as McCain has urged, and its embrace of a regional conference with Syria and Iran.
"It's sort of hard to suddenly say everyone agrees Baker is the way to go when the leading Republican candidate for '08 is saying no," said William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Its about time we marched, en masse, to show SUPPORT. Too many anti-troop and war rallies are going on.
Does anyone actually like the substance of the ISG report? Seems that even the fans of the ISG are cheering the idea of a study, rather than what the study says. Even Murtha thinks it stinks.
What rubbish, we must defend Europe because of the following reasons...
errmm
errr.....
Oh yeah, its so they can complain about it for the next 60 years.
I don't know why there are still American troops stationed in europe. We could use those basing dollars at home.
"We could use those basing dollars at home."
Or in Iraq!
Bush has to get the road realigned with his hawkish base. Failure to do so means the Republicans are finished.
SS
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