[lbo-talk] Iraq: the Beltway view

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri Dec 1 09:35:29 PST 2006


<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238&page=3> The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis, the Washington Post's Peter Baker and Thomas Ricks report. LINK

In a story that reports that the Bush Administration is deliberating whether to abandon reconciliation efforts with Sunni insurgents, the Washington Post's Robin Wright reports that U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that their reconciliation efforts may even have "backfired," alienating the Shiite majority and leaving the United States vulnerable to having no allies in Iraq. LINK

In a news analysis, David Sanger of the New York Times describes the current moment as possibly President Bush's last to alter his Iraq strategy and redefine the terms of victory as nearly everyone in Washington seems to no longer be debating if troops should start coming out of Iraq, but instead simply debating when and how rapidly. LINK

The San Francisco Chronicle's Marc Sandlow sees President Bush's comments while traveling in the Middle East as yet another example "that the world of public Bush-speak — from his vigorous support for al-Maliki and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to his rejection of direct diplomacy with Syria and Iran — bears little relation to what goes on behind the scenes." LINK



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