Draft report on Iraq strategy calls for Syria, Iran talks, but has no drive for pullout

Raw Story
Nov. 28, 2006

"A draft report on strategies for Iraq, which will be debated here by a bipartisan commission beginning on Monday, urges an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative that includes direct talks with Iran and Syria, but sets no timetables for a military withdrawal, according to officials who have seen all or parts of the document," the New York Times is set to report in page one Monday leads.

Excerpts:

While the diplomatic strategy appears likely to be accepted, with some amendments, by the 10-member Iraq Study Group, members of the commission and outsiders involved in its work said they expected a potentially divisive debate about timetables for beginning an American withdrawal.

In interviews, several officials said that announcing a major withdrawal is the only way to persuade the government of Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, to focus on creating an effective Iraqi military force.

One proposal would involve putting more American trainers into Iraqi military units in a last-ditch improvement effort, coupled with a withdrawal that in a year would leave between 70,000 and 80,000 American troops in the country, compared with about 150,000 now.

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