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Last week, a panel of distinguished former political leaders formed to look at what the United States must now do to provide a positive outcome in Iraq made its recommendations to President Bush and to Congress. The report offers a frank assessment of recent events in Iraq and suggests bold steps it believes America needs to take to turn things around. This discussion serves as an opportunity for all political sides to come together as America cannot be divided in its Iraq strategy and also hope to win.
The ten-member Iraq Study Group's report, known as "The Way Forward," is wide ranging and useful in that it offers an independent assessment of the events in Iraq, free from the political pressures of Washington. The panel's 79 recommendations cover both military and political strategies it believes are needed now to quell domestic violence and prevent the country from collapsing into full blown anarchy.
I was encouraged to see that the report rejects the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops and recognizes that a stable Iraq is vital to U.S. interests. The report notes: "A premature American departure from Iraq would almost certainly produce greater sectarian violence and further deterioration of conditions."
A strong point made in the report is one that I believe many, if not most in Congress and in this country support: the Iraqi government must do more to protect and provide for its citizens. "The Iraqi government should accelerate assuming responsibility for Iraqi security by increasing the number and quality of Iraqi Army brigades," according to the report's executive summary.
On October 20, I joined with 32 of my colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee in writing a letter to President Bush and then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging them to send at least 20 of the 114 Iraqi military battalions to Baghdad to help stabilize the situation there. The letter noted, "Now is the time to move the majority of the trained and equipped Iraqi battalions into the heart of the battle."
To be sure, some of the Iraq Study Group's other recommendations are somewhat broad in scope, including the idea that the U.S. should engage the neighboring regimes of Iran and Syria in seeking a diplomatic approach to stem chaos in Iraq. The report also crosses over into the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suggesting that the U.S. do more to facilitate peace talks there. These ideas, and others, while not popular with everyone in Washington, will also be studied by lawmakers and the Bush Administration for areas of possible compromise.
It is clear to all that the situation in Iraq demands new thinking while also not abandoning our commitment to defeat global terrorism and to help the Iraqi people achieve a democratic society. There is no "magic bullet" to solve the problem in Iraq and even the Iraq Study Group acknowledged that its own ideas are not without flaws and shortcomings. The Iraq Study Group's report should be seen as an opportunity for all political sides to focus on common ground and achieving victory in Iraq. A continued, divided approach to Iraq is the surest way to guarantee failure.
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