Redstate

Iraq Study Group, Part Three

By streiff Posted in War — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

the unofficial avatar for the ISG

Bloomberg News is reporting some snippets from today’s hearing on the ISG report.

Suffice it to say, it has not been greeted with the hosannas and laurels that awaited the findings of the 9/11 Commission. Rather the comments point to the very nature of the dog’s breakfast that the ISG has produced.

Read on

``Both Syria and Iran need to be brought into the process,'' Obama of Illinois said after the report's release. ``We should have a situation where our combat troops are not on the ground.''

Okay. Where should they be? Is this really the type of incisive, cut-to-the-quick question we should expect from a Democrat awaiting anointing as a presidential candidate? This makes John Kerry seem like Karl von Clausewitz.

``I do not agree that you can take the trainers that are necessary, much less the troops that are necessary, from the existing forces there,'' McCain said after a meeting at the White House. ``There is only one thing worse than an overstressed military, and that's a defeated military.''

McCain, who is expected to seek the presidency in 2008, was skeptical of the recommendation to involve Syria and Iran: ``You have to understand that the Iranians and the Syrians do not have common interests with us.'' And the report's conclusion that peace between Israelis and Palestinians is integral to success in Iraq ``seems tenuous at best,'' he said in a statement later.

I’ve got to admit. McCain is looking more and more acceptable to me as a 2008 candidate. The fact that he avoided the easy route of praising the mealy-mouthed ISG and took them directly to task raises my opinion of him several notches. Maybe if he had a chest pelt transplant National Review’s Kathryn Lopez would jump on the McCain ’08 bandwagon.

Comedic relief was provided by Jack Murtha (D-Anonymous Arab with unmarked $20s)

Murtha said the study group's proposal that the U.S. pull out by early 2008 ``is no different than the current policy.''

``Staying in Iraq is not an option politically, militarily or fiscally,'' he said in a statement.

Clinton said it was now up to President George W. Bush to act: ``The American people have spoken. The Iraq Study Group has spoken. Experts across the political spectrum have spoken,'' the New York senator said in a statement. ``Now it's time for the president to listen and change the course in Iraq.''

What, if anything, does this tripe mean?

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, another prospective presidential candidate, said the panel's recommendation for troop withdrawals ``sends a concrete signal to the Iraqis that we will not remain there indefinitely.'' Like Clinton, Bayh put the focus squarely on the president: ``The final answer rests with President Bush and whether or not he will take the advice he's been offered.''

I think we all knew both these points before the ISG reported.

Obama offered some criticism, saying the goal of withdrawing the troops by 2008 was too vague. ``I think that probably doesn't give our military enough direction,'' he said.

My first thought was to set up a “Constitutions for Barack” website so we could make sure he actually owned one. It seems like that when he was in law school he missed Articles I and II of it. C’mon, Senator, for heaven’s sake the military isn’t going to take its direction from the ISG report.

Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, a Democratic presidential candidate for 2008, said the report had some ``sensible ideas'' though lacked a strategy.

``The administration should pay serious attention to this,'' Vilsack said in an interview. ``I fear they will not. This president has indicated stubbornness in the face of facts and in the face of serious discontent in this country.''

Bingo on both counts. The report is a laundry list of truisms and wishes, not a strategy. And I am regaining confidence that the president will not be stampeded into implementing it.

Biden, who has called for more local control of police and social issues in Iraq, said the report errs by assuming a strong central government is the best option for holding the country together.

Again mounting his partition hobby horse, Senator Biden is setting out to dismember a potential ally for the benefit of our enemies. He won’t succeed but it is fun watching him try.

Senator John Warner, a Virginia Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee and also met with the president, said Bush was ``looking at all options very carefully.''

``He certainly indicated to this senator that he is open to considering all points very, very carefully before he reaches his conclusion,'' Warner said. ``But we all recognize that he's the one who has got to make the final decision.''

Ever the master of the obvious, Virginia’s senior senator sums it up.