Some of the recommendations from the Iraq Study Group sound especially familiar to U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., who campaigned on many of them when he ran for president two years ago.
“The report underscores what many of us have long been arguing: There is no military solution to our deep problems in Iraq,” Mr. Kerry said Wednesday after the report was released. He said the focus should be on a report that spotlights the futility of the current Iraq policy and deserves the attention of the White House.
For example, the report calls for the withdrawal of nearly all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by early 2008. While Mr. Kerry was far from alone in advocating such a timetable, he was talking about it during the 2004 presidential campaign. On Wednesday, he lamented only that the study committee recommendation did not include a deadline.
In an April 22 speech at Boston’s Faneuil Hall, Mr. Kerry said, “Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines — a deadline to transfer authority to a provisional government, and a deadline to hold three elections … And it will demand deadline toughness to rein in Shiite militias Sunnis say are committing horrific acts of torture every day in Baghdad. So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet.”
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