Iraq Study Group

In the New York Times Today, the news that the Iraq Study Group 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 panels deliberations. ' It should be noted that also looking at Iraq mess is the National Security Council and the Pentagon. They it can be argued will take more of a White House line, no surrender. The NYT article states the following, ' as described by those familiar with the compromise, may give Republicans political cover to back away from parts of the president's current strategy, even if Democrats claim that the report is short on specific deadlines. ' The NYT states that ' If Mr. Bush adopts the recommendations, far more American training teams will be embedded with Iraqi forces, a last-ditch effort to make the Iraqi Army more capable of fighting alone. That is a step already embraced in a memorandum that Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, wrote to the president this month. ' This does remind VIEWS of the Vietnam policy of the 1970's and that failed in the end.

The delayed meeting between President George W. Bush and the Prime Minister of Iraq has finally happened. The President stated the following at a Press Conference on his meeting with the PM, ' I expressed my concern about the security situation; he expressed his concern about the security situation. After all, one of his most important jobs is to provide security for the Iraqi people. Part of the Prime Minister's frustration is, is that he doesn't have the tools necessary to take care of those who break the law. ' Although the Iraq Study Group might want a compromise the President might see this has his chance to place a line in the sand and go his own way, President Ronald Reagan also had his critics and in the end he was right.