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Panel: Try diplomacy in Iraq, then leave 
Says U.S. faces 'grave and deteriorating' situation after 3 years of war

The United States faces a "grave and deteriorating" situation after three years of war in Iraq, a high-level commission warned bluntly on Wednesday, recommending enhanced diplomacy to stabilize the country and hopefully permit the withdrawal of most combat troops by early 2008.

"There is no path that can guarantee success, but the prospects can be improved," the commission said after an eight-month review of a war that has resulted in the deaths of more than 2,900 U.S. troops and grown so unpopular at home that it helped trigger a Democratic takeover of Congress in last month's elections.

Portions of the report were obtained by The Associated Press.

President Bush received the report in an early morning meeting at the White House with commission members. He pledged to treat each proposal seriously and act in a "timely fashion."

He was flanked by the commission's co-chairmen, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton.

The report painted a grim picture of Iraq nearly four years after U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein.

It warned that if the situation continues to deteriorate, there is a risk of a "slide toward chaos (that) could trigger the collapse of Iraq's government and a humanitarian catastrophe."

"Neighboring countries could intervene. .... The global standing of the United States could be diminished. Americans could become more polarized," commissioners said.

The report called for the administration to try to engage Syria and Iran in diplomacy as part of an effort to bring stability to Iraq - even though Bush has said previously he would not negotiate with either country.

With diplomacy under way, the report said, the U.S. should increase the number of combat and other troops that are embedded with and supporting Iraqi Army units.

"As these actions proceed, U.S. combat forces could begin to move out of Iraq. ... By the first quarter of 2008, subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq."

Bush said the report "gives a very tough assessment of the situation in Iraq. It is a report that brings some really very interesting proposals, and we will take every proposal seriously and we will act in a timely fashion."

He also urged members of Congress to give serious consideration to the recommendations.

"While they won't agree with every proposal, and we probably won't agree with every proposal, it nevertheless is an opportunity to come together and to work together on this important issue," he said.

Baker, Hamilton and the other members of the commission traveled to the Capitol from the White House to present their findings to senior lawmakers. The report makes 79 separate recommendations on Iraq policy, said one official familiar with the work.

The recommendations came at a pivotal time, with Bush under domestic pressure to change course and with the new, Democratic-controlled Congress certain to cast a skeptical look at administration policy.

Additionally, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the architect of the administration's war policy, has resigned. His replacement, Robert Gates, is on track for Senate confirmation this week after a remarkable assessment of his own - that the United States is not winning the war.

Bush has rejected establishing timetables for withdrawing troops and has said he isn't looking for "some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq."

There was no letup in the killing in Iraq, where a mortar attack killed at least eight people and wounded dozens in a secondhand goods market. Police said the shelling was followed closely by a suicide bombing in the Sadr City Shiite district of the capital.

It was the type of violence that has led many to declare that Iraq is in the throes of a civil war - an assessment that Bush has refused to accept.

By whatever name, Baker, Hamilton and the other eight members of the commission said the status quo was unacceptable.

"The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating," they warned.

"Violence is increasing in scope and lethality. It is fed by a Sunni Arab insurgency, Shiite militias, death squads, al-Qaida and widespread criminality. Sectarian conflict is the principal challenge to stability."

OK...now I would have either laughed in their face and told them to do this report and come up with ideas to come out of this victorious with honor and dignity. 

Or I would have said the same thing he did while turning and putting it in the round file next to the podium :D

lol   ....   I would probably have done something along those lines also. I wouldn't make it as the President. I would either be impeached or assassinated long before my term was up.

I thought the recent report and recommendations about Iraq were moronic. There is a clear statement being given to the terrorists of the world, and that statement is insane.

We are telling them that they've won, and that will make them twice as bold. In all reality, they haven't won anything, and the terrorists are being kicked around like a soccer ball. The wimpy politicians have again figured out a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

OH, and they want the President of the United States to bow down to terrorists and beg them for help. Their status in the world is being elevated from dime-a-dozen terrorists to world super powers. This is absolutely insane. Israel could testify about the wonderful benefits of negotiating with terrorists. They have now received the message that they can control the world with terror. It is impossible to satisfy them unless we disappear from the face of the earth. The only thing they understand is "NO!" and overwhelming force to mean "NO!". In terms of "be nice and play fair", that IS NOT in their method of operation. In terms of "make an agreement and them keep it", that's only for the innocent side, NOT the terrorists. Negotiations and agreements are simply children's games for the terrorists, and decades of experience with them should easily convince any person with common sense that these actions are a waste of time with terrorists. They simply get prestige and more recruits when these wimpy tactics are used.

Amen brother we might as well just put up the white flag and wait for the firing squad. Sorry that would be wait for a sword not a firing squad.

Yep there are days that like these and times when I hear people talk like that...I get very unchristianlike thoughts and at times they do feel good.

Sometimes don't you just wish it was still OT times...and we could just sit back and be a faithful nation and watch God send a column of flame down to smite the enemy.  Or just part the Atlantic Ocean so that our enemies will be lured into the pit....SPLOOSH...

I know not very Christianlike...but there are days.

I put that frustration to work and get busy doing what I can against it. Then I keep it in thought that they will get exactly what they are asking for in God's time.

Amen and oh yeah.

Like I said...there are times though.  Just makes me say an extra prayer right there on the spot.

Amen!