If President Bush is to salvage even meager success out of his disastrous Iraq policy, he should embrace and act quickly on the recommendations announced Wednesday by the Iraq Study Group.
It’s the most objective, thorough, bipartisan advice Bush will get. It offers no silver bullets – none exist, the panel noted – but it does outline a series of diplomatic and military steps that, if executed well, could lead to relative stability where anarchy increasingly reigns. That’s the new measure of success because it’s as close to “victory” as we can now hope to get.
The blunt report, the consensus of 10 seasoned and respected leaders – five Republicans and five Democrats – is sharply critical of the administration’s handling of the war and calls for dramatic changes. It doesn’t include a specific timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, but it does call for a gradual pullback as a way of making clear to the Iraqi leadership that it must solve its internal conflicts and take responsibility for its own security. It suggests expediting the training of Iraqi troops by embedding thousands of U.S. military advisers with Iraqi forces, which also would allow our combat troops to begin leaving.
The report envisions a U.S. combat force of 70,000 to 80,000 in early 2008, compared with about 150,000 now.
The panel recommends a diplomatic offensive that includes Iraq’s neighbors, all of whom have a vital interest in a stable Iraq. That includes two U.S. nemeses, Iran and Syria, which the administration has so far refused to engage. Panel co-chairman James Baker, who served as secretary of state under Bush’s father, put that short-sighted policy into perspective: “For 40 years, we talked to the Soviet Union, during a time when they were committed to wiping us off the face of the Earth. So you talk to your enemies, not just your friends.”
The administration also needs to re-commit to the Arab-Israeli peace process, the panel said, which is even more central to Middle East stability.
Failing to take such steps, the commission concludes, risks seeing a deteriorating situation plunge into chaos, creating a humanitarian crisis and a haven for terrorists.
An administration that has done little but fumble in Iraq needed help. The Iraq Study Group has provided it. For the good of our national security, our standing in the world and especially our troops, the president needs to swallow his pride and accept it.
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