Iraq Study Group recommends...lip service!

[ProSense]

Iraq Panel to Recommend Pullback of Combat Troops

By DAVID E. SANGER and DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: November 30, 2006

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 — The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal, according to people familiar with the panel’s deliberations.

The report, unanimously approved by the 10-member panel, led by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, is to be delivered to President Bush next week. It is a compromise between distinct paths that the group has debated since March, avoiding a specific timetable, which has been opposed by Mr. Bush, but making it clear that the American troop commitment should not be open-ended. The recommendations of the group, formed at the request of members of Congress, are nonbinding.

A person who participated in the commission’s debate said that unless the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki believed that Mr. Bush was under pressure to pull back troops in the near future, “there will be zero sense of urgency to reach the political settlement that needs to be reached.”

The report recommends that Mr. Bush make it clear that he intends to start the withdrawal relatively soon, and people familiar with the debate over the final language said the implicit message was that the process should begin sometime next year.

The report leaves unstated whether the 15 combat brigades that are the bulk of American fighting forces in Iraq would be brought home, or simply pulled back to bases in Iraq or in neighboring countries. (A brigade typically consists of 3,000 to 5,000 troops.) From those bases, they would still be responsible for protecting a substantial number of American troops who would remain in Iraq, including 70,000 or more American trainers, logistics experts and a members of a rapid reaction force.

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[IndianaGreen]

1. This is the biggest dud since New Coke

and events in Iraq have made this report as worthless as the paper it is printed on.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Has got to be better than nothing at all...which is what we get now!

[blm]

5. Sounded similar to Kerry's 2005 withdrawal plan put thru the political rinse/spin cycle

and they ended up with the basic outlione of the original Kerry plan with vaguer language.

That may be the only way to get the GOPs to agree.

Unfortunately, Kerry's original plan was drafted in Oct.2005, about 3-4 months before civil war started to take hold.

[ProSense]

6. It is not Kerry's plan, not even vaguely! It's spin! n/t

[blm]

7. From the news reports I've heard on CNN it sounds like a hybrid of the original

with softer language and vaguer terms.

Maybe this early leak is a trial balloon to see how the public and other lawmakers react. Hopefully they'll toughen the language and the details in the final.

[KAT119]

10. Baker on Board of Carlyle Group-HUGE Defense Contractor

Hamilton has been creating cover-ups for Iran-Contra; the 9/11 Commission and NOW Iraq War. This group is compared to the Catholic Cardinals deciding the fate of the pedophile priests...nothing will change.

[ProSense]

3. Bush agrees to speedy turnover in Iraq

Bush agrees to speedy turnover in Iraq

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 14 minutes ago

AMMAN, Jordan - President Bush said Thursday the United States will speed a turnover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces but assured Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Washington is not looking for a "graceful exit" from a war well into its fourth violent year.

Under intensifying political pressure at home, the American and Iraqi leaders came together for a hastily arranged summit to explore how to stop escalating violence that is tearing Iraq apart and eroding support for Bush's war strategy.

With Bush hoping to strengthen his Iraqi counterpart's fragile government, the tensions that flared when their opening session was abruptly cancelled Wednesday evening were not apparent when they appeared before reporters after breakfast Thursday.

" I appreciate the courage you show during these difficult times as you lead your country," Bush told al-Maliki after nearly two and a half hours of talks. "He's the right guy for Iraq." It was their third face-to-face meeting since al-Maliki took power about six months ago.

"There is no problem," declared al-Maliki.

There were no immediate answers for mending the Shiite-Sunni divide that is fueling sectarian bloodshed in Iraq or taming the stubborn insurgency against the U.S. presence. The leaders emerged from their breakfast and formal session with few specific ideas, particularly on Bush's repeated pledge to move more quickly to transfer authority for Iraq's security to al-Maliki's government.

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"Speedy!" How convenient!

[ProSense]

4. Summary:

Current troop levels:
145,000 to 150,000

Plan:
Gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades

Number of troops to be pulled back:
45,000 to 75,000 (15 time 3,000 to 5,000)

When:
Eventually

Where:
Back to bases in Iraq or in neighboring countries.

Number of troops to remain engaged:
70,000 to 100,000

Impact:
Stay the course

[blm]

8. The way CNN is reporting it it gives idea that drawdown of troops is SIGNIFICANT.

.

[ProSense]

9. It's spin! n/t

[blm]

11. Ugh - I got snookered by what was likely a trial balloon leak making it out to be

bigger than it was.

[ProSense]

12. Bush Dismisses Iraq Panel’s Pullback Plan

Bush Dismisses Iraq Panel’s Pullback Plan

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: December 1, 2006

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 30 — President Bush today proclaimed Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki “the right guy for Iraq,” and said they had agreed to speed the turnover of security responsibility from American to Iraqi forces. But Mr. Bush dismissed a reported decision by an independent bipartisan panel to call for a gradual withdrawal of troops.

“I know there’s a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there’s going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq,” the president said during a joint news conference here with Mr. Maliki, referring to the panel’s final report that is expected next week. “We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done so long as the government wants us there.”

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Report: Panel to advise U.S. pullback, no timetable

It was lip service anyway. Why even print it?

[ProSense]

13. Bush is for

withdrawal? The report will serve it's purpose to give Bush the cover he needs to continue lying!