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Bush Vows to Consider Iraq Group Proposals But President Does Not Address Two Key Recommendations
By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post, Staff Writer
Saturday, December 9, 2006; 2:56 PM
President Bush said today his administration will "seriously consider every recommendation" the Iraq Study Group made in its report this week.
"The group proposed a number of thoughtful recommendations on a way forward for our country in Iraq," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Bush did not address two of the bipartisan group's key recommendations--that the United States set a goal of pulling out its combat units by early 2008 and that it begin direct dialogue with Iran and Syria to end the violence in Iraq. Bush has repeatedly ruled out such dialogue.
Bush instead used the radio address to highlight broad areas of agreement with the 96-page report, which sharply attacked the administration's diplomatic and military approach to Iraq.
"Their report provides a straightforward picture of the grave situation we face in Iraq," Bush said. "The Iraq Study Group's report also explicitly endorses the strategic goal we've set in Iraq: an Iraq that can 'govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.' "
Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in the Democrats' weekly radio address that the study group report "confirms what most of us have known for some time: President Bush's policy of 'stay the course' is not working."
The study group, chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, suggested that the administration's handling of the war in Iraq has helped unleash a deadly wave of sectarian violence.
Bush sought to counter that view by recounting a conversation he had this week with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a White House visitor.
"We discussed the sectarian violence in Iraq and the need to confront extremists inside Iraq and throughout the region," Bush said, according to a transcript of his address.
"The Prime Minister explains it this way: 'The violence is not . . . an accident or a result of faulty planning. It is a deliberate strategy. It is the direct result of outside extremists teaming up with internal extremists--al Qaeda with [the] Sunni insurgents, [and Iran with] Shia militia-- to foment hatred and thus throttle at birth the possibility of non-sectarian democracy.' "
Bush added that the study group "understands that while the work ahead will not be easy, success in Iraq is important, and success in Iraq is possible."
Reyes, in his radio address, said the recent mid-term congressional elections demonstrate that "the American people agree with Democrats that we need a new direction in Iraq."
"A key recommendation of the Iraq Study Group echoes something that House and Senate Democrats have been advocating for months: in order to begin the redeployment of our troops, we must change the mission of the U.S. military in Iraq from combat to training and support," Reyes said, according to a transcript of his address.
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http://zfacts.com/p/633.html | 01/18/12 07:21 GMT
Modified: Sat, 09 Dec 2006 22:53:24 GMT
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