Bipartisan group releases its long awaited report. A new US strategy in Iraq is suggested including greater training for Iraqi forces and greater involvement in regional peace process with Syria and Iran. Blair comes to the White House.

Washington (AsiaNews) – US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet today in the White House to talk about the Iraqi situation and the stalled Mideast peace process. And US political and military strategy in Iraq needs a radical overhaul, this according to the suggestions and recommendations made by the Iraqi Study Group, a bipartisan panel chaired by former US Secretary of State James Baker and former US Congressman and 9/11 Commission Deputy Chairman Lee Hamilton, which just released its report, a tough 142-page document titled “The Way Forward”.

Iraqi authorities have reacted positively by and large although some views remain guarded.

Syria and Iran are satisfied because the report recognises their role as necessary parties to solving the Iraqi crisis and jumpstarting the stalled Mideast peace process.

The report’s two key points: pulling back most combat troops and launching a diplomatic offensive to stabilise the country.

Military and security plan

The panel of five Republicans and five Democrats urges Washington to focus on training Iraqi forces so that they can take on the task of defending the country. It does not set any timetable for pulling US troops out. But it does set the first quarter of 2008 as the time when all non essential US troops should start leaving Iraq.

Among its recommendations the report suggests reducing US political, military and economic aid to Baghdad if it cannot make progress in guaranteeing its own security. Currently, 140,000 US troops remain in Iraq. After almost four years of war, 2,900 US troops have died.

Diplomatic plan

The bipartisan commission warns the White House that US foreign policy is bound to fail if it does not involve building a wider international consensus.

The report tells Bush to put aside its suspicions and try to get Syria, Iran and the leaders of armed groups involved in negotiations before December 31 of this year.

The president is told to seek a broader peace initiative in the Middle East through an “Iraq support group”, comprising Iran, Syria, Egypt, the Gulf States, EU and UN.

Failure to achieve a significant change to the current situation, the Iraqi Study Group warns, will lead to “slide towards chaos”.

Reactions in Iraq

Baghdad has welcomed the report. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said that its proposals are similar to those of the government, which supports transferring responsibility for security to Iraqi forces.

However, the spokesman for the main Sunni group in parliament said that the report should have had a precise timetable for the pullout of US troops from the country.

 

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