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Iraq Study Groups Calls for "Gradual Pullback"

by Tryan Hartill

From the NY Times

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 members of a rapid reaction force.

This report was not supposed to be released until next Monday, but 4 members of the group wanted to bring it to the press because they felt the debate was needed sooner than later. And I totally agree with it, with 200 Iraqi’s and 2-3 American dying every day and billions per day spen….(Ok I’ll stop there) in our current “Stay the Course” policy, something has got to change. Even if there is a high probability it’s for the worse.

The recommendations were a “compromise” between the Dems and Repubs on the panel. The Democrats wanted a time-line for a full withdraw within a year, Republicans didn’t want this because it would most likely halt some of the violence now, but as soon as the time was right, the strongest group would rise up and topple the Government.

I say good, that is what needs to happen. If a group can get organized enough and large enough to control the population, even if it might be on a town-by-town basis, let them try to Govern, it can’t get much worse than it is now.

Nov 29, 08:05 pm | Tryan Hartill
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3 comments on this article (post your own)

1 On Nov 30, 06:54 am, Walter Richards wrote:

Quote: I say good, that is what needs to happen. If a group can get organized enough and large enough to control the population, even if it might be on a town-by-town basis, let them try to Govern, it can’t get much worse than it is now.

I disagree. It could get much worse, especially under that scenario. It could become another warlord-divided nation, with each town under the control of whoever had the strongest militia there. Which, of course would lead to even more death … as the “fiefdoms” tried to extend into the next town.

Though I have no doubt it would eventually lead to the Kurds having their own area in the north – until it is invaded by Turkey. Nor do I have any doubt Iran would take the opportunity to invade, on the basis of their own jihad. (Remember the Iran-Iraq war?)

2 On Nov 30, 10:57 pm, Mom of Three wrote:

We screwed up royal going in there. You’ve read the Project for a New American Century, right? So, we all know that they were going in there as soon as they got into power, whatever the reason. Now, our coffers are dry, our troops are dead or wounded (and returning to a Veterans Administration budget that Bush CUT!), and I don’t even want to think of how many Iraqis have lost loved ones.

We need to get out, ASAP. In spite of the fact that much suffering will occur under the inevitable civil war, in spite of the fact that Iraq will basically help enlarge Iran (whom I agree is dangerous and whom we are not through with, unfortunately). Unless we have a draft, we cannot hope to successfully occupy this country. So we either have to decide to draft so many thousands of Americans that we literally overpower them, or we get out. This half-assed stuff is only getting our people killed and their people killed.

And pulling out is going to lead to it’s own nightmare: Open civil war with the winner getting the spoils from the oil fields to fund whichever causes they feel are important (thanks, Bush, you’ve setup a situation now where the terrorists will have oil money!).

The fiefdoms are the reality in Afghanistan, as well. Perhaps we could allow refugee status to the Kurds, as we did the Hmong during the Vietnam War??? I feel we should also offer this protection to any of the Iraqis who believed we would truly democratize them and will die almost immediatelly once we withdraw.

This whole era has been just shameful for us, and now it is a part of our history. But we can only begin to redeem ourselves by beginning to act sanely sooner than later.

3 On Dec 1, 10:02 am, Walter Richards wrote:

Quote: ”(thanks, Bush, you’ve setup a situation now where the terrorists will have oil money!).”

I don’t believe Bush set up Iran, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, or any of the other oil countries that fund terrorism or madrassas (or however you spell those schools).

I’m pretty sure the Islamofacists were getting oil money since the 1940’s, when they began coming to power.

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