“For The Good Of The Country…”

"This report will give us all an opportunity to find common ground for the good of the country — not for the good of the Republican Party or the Democrat Party but for the good of the country." George Bush's words regarding the Iraq Study Group recommendations.

The long awaited, and frequently leaked, report from the ISG, or Baker Commission, was handed to the president today. It is not quite what was being portrayed in the early leaking and it will not make the vitriolic left happy at all. It does not call for an immediate withdrawal. It does, unfortunately, call for talking to the regional thugs who are causing the violence in the first place.

Despite a list of 79 recommendations meant to encourage regional diplomacy and lead to a reduction of U.S. forces over the next year, the panel acknowledges that stability in Iraq may be impossible to achieve any time soon. "No one can guarantee that any course of action in Iraq at this point will stop sectarian warfare, growing violence or a slide toward chaos," the study group's co-chairmen warn in a joint letter by accompanying the report. "If current trends continue, the potential consequences are severe."

The letter from former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former congressman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), adds, however, "All options have not been exhausted. We believe it is still possible to pursue different policies that can give Iraq an opportunity for a better future, combat terrorism, stabilize a critical region of the world and protect America's credibility, interests and values."

The study group recommends that the United States withdraw nearly all of its combat units from Iraq by early 2008, sharply reducing the current troop level of more than 140,000 while leaving behind tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel to advise, train and embed with Iraqi forces.

It also recommends that Bush threaten to reduce economic and military support for Iraq's government if it fails to meet specific benchmarks intended to improve security in the country. It suggests that the Bush administration open talks with Iran and Syria about ways to end the violence in Iraq, proposes holding a regional conference to bring together all of Iraq's neighbors and urges Bush to aggressively tackle the Israeli-Palestinian dispute to reduce the broader regional tensions fueling the Iraq conflict.

Bush, who met with members of the study group this morning, pledged to take its recommendations "very seriously" while cautioning that he probably will not agree with all of them. The report includes proposals that Bush has previously rejected.

"This report gives a very tough assessment of the situation in Iraq," Bush said after receiving a copy of it from the study group. "It is a report that brings some really very interesting proposals. And we will take every proposal seriously, and we will act in a timely fashion."

For the good of the country is exactly the right expression here. The ongoing attempts to destroy Bush personally will also severely damage the nation as a whole. I have been saying this all along. And walking - hell, running - away from Iraq as some want will lead to a bloodbath and make a general war more likely. I am on the record as not being in favor of talking to either Iran or Syria under these conditions, hopefully the administration also holds to that until there are some changes in those nation's behavior. Rewarding them for what they are doing now is exactly the wrong move.

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