Bush, Blair meet amid grave Iraq study results

By Deb Riechmann
The Collegian

President Bush, facing urgent pressure to find a fresh strategy in Iraq, met with his closest ally on Thursday, a day after a bipartisan commission report said his war policies have failed and that “time is running out.”

The Iraq Study Group’s report, which said the situation in Iraq was “grave and deteriorating” after nearly four years of bloodshed, was among topics of Bush’s talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Their meeting began as one of the leaders of the study group said that a new U.S. approach to Iraq war cannot be unrealistic and must be a bipartisan effort between Bush and Congress. Leaders in Europe, who have been sharply critical of the Bush administration’s occupation of Iraq, welcomed the U.S. advisory group’s report on Iraq as a necessary course correction and a first step in a more realistic American view of the conflict.

Bush, possibly with counsel from Blair, could embrace some or all 79 of the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations. The president also could ignore them and chart his own new course based on internal reviews being done at the Pentagon, State Department and the White House.

“It’s clear that the present situation is not one that could be sustained or accepted,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said Wednesday.

The panel’s recommendations ranged from gradually withdrawing U.S. combat forces during the next year to ramping up the training of Iraqi security forces to enlisting diplomatic help from Iraq’s neighbors — not only to resolve problems in Iraq but to find an end to the long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

The White House was cautious not to specifically reject any of the group’s ideas outright and vowed that Bush would entertain suggestions from all political circles before charting a new way forward.

But the president already has rejected the idea of direct talks with Iran and Syria. The administration continues to insist that Iran verifiably suspend uranium enrichment before the United States would start direct talks, although Snow left the door open for discussions through an outside group.

“There’s some very good ideas in there,” Bush said about the report after meeting Wednesday afternoon with lawmakers. “Not all of us around the table agree with every idea, but we do agree that it shows that bipartisan consensus on important issues is possible.”

When a reporter asked whether Bush was capable of making dramatic changes in his war plan, Snow said: “Well, you’re assuming that the president has to pull U-turns. I’m not sure I agree.”

Democrats, meanwhile, clamored for change.

“I’m encouraged,” said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., “and I feel the stay-the-course strategy is officially dead.”

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the key question was whether Bush was ready for a change of course.

“All eyes now are on this president,” Schumer said.

Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, has said Bush would make his decision within weeks.

“We believe that the situation in Iraq today is very, very serious,” said James A. Baker III, the former Republican secretary of state who led the panel jointly with former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind. “We do not know if it can be turned around.”

While the panel concluded that a stable, democratic Iraq was still possible, its pessimistic assessment of the situation contrasted with Bush’s upbeat prediction that the U.S.-led coalition was on the road to victory.

“We’re winning, and we will win, unless we leave before the job is done,” Bush said at a White House news conference on Oct. 25.

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