Iraq Study Group report
Dec 6, 2006
Dear Friend,
The independent and bipartisan Iraq Study Group (ISG) released its report on Iraq today. Among its major recommendations are that the United States should redeploy its combat troops from Iraq with no fixed timeline for total withdrawal; engage regional actors, including Iran and Syria; and embed more American military personnel with Iraqi Army units to assist in their training.
Council for a Livable World believes that the ISG’s recommendations are a great start but that more needs to be done. Diplomatic engagement with Iran and Syria and embedding more military personnel with Iraqi Army units are both constructive and necessary steps towards potentially ending the bloody civil war that rages on in Iraq and assisting in the “standing up” of the Iraqi Army. But withdrawal of U.S. combat troops sooner rather than later is the best of many bad options.
Please ask your Senators and Representative to urge troop withdrawal from Iraq sooner rather than later. You can call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 866-340-9281. Ask for your state’s Senators or your district’s Representative.
The ISG, also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission, explicitly recognizes that the Bush Administration’s unilateral, “go-it-alone” policy towards Iraq has been a failure. It recommends that the United States “immediately launch a new diplomatic offensive to build an international consensus for stability in Iraq and the region. This diplomatic effort should include every country that has an interest in avoiding a chaotic Iraq, including all of Iraq’s neighbors.” These proposed changes, the report continues, would allow the United States to begin redeploying its troops elsewhere, including Afghanistan.
The report likewise recommends that “The primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq should evolve to one of supporting the Iraqi army, which would take over primary responsibility for combat operations.” The Iraqi government, the report states, should rapidly assume more responsibility for Iraqi security by increasing the number and quality of Iraqi Army brigades, while the United States, for its part, should significantly increase American military personnel, including combat troops, supporting Iraqi Army units.
Please ask your Senators and Representative to urge troop withdrawal from Iraq sooner rather than later. You can call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 866-340-9281. Ask for your state’s Senators or your district’s Representative.
American troops should continue to assist in the training of Iraqi security forces, but waiting for the Iraqi Army to “stand up” cannot be an excuse for an indefinite occupation. The ISG report misses the point that the United States has already been training Iraqi security forces for over three and a half years, that there are already over 300,000 trained Iraqi troops, and that Iraqi security forces have increasingly either defected to violent sectarian groups or have aligned themselves with such groups. As the report rightfully notes, “The United States must not make an open ended commitment to keep large numbers of American troops deployed in Iraq.”
Please ask your Senators and Representative to urge troop withdrawal from Iraq sooner rather than later. You can call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 866-340-9281. Ask for your state’s Senators or your district’s Representative.
Sincerely,
John Isaacs and Guy Stevens
P.S. More information, including the full ISG report, can be found here.
