The Iraq war report unveiled Wednesday by a bipartisan commission was a bleak rebuke of President Bush’s policies and a sobering, high-profile reminder of the challenges the U.S. faces.
The Iraq Study Group’s report called the situation in Iraq “grave and deteriorating” and predicted severe consequences unless the U.S. military refocuses its mission and aggressive regional diplomatic efforts are undertaken.
Of course, the widely anticipated report could not answer one key question: Will a stubborn president heed recommendations that contradict his entrenched Iraq policies?
Although President Bush said Wednesday that he would take the commission’s ideas “very seriously,” his previous comments about widely leaked parts of the report suggest otherwise. He has brushed aside any notion of a timetable for military withdrawal or a “graceful exit” from Iraq. He has resisted diplomatic overtures to Iran and Syria.
Indeed, administration officials immediately began spinning one of the important elements of the panel’s findings, which suggested combat forces “could be out of Iraq” by the spring of 2008. After the commission delivered its findings to the president, White House spokesman Tony Snow said that “there is nothing in here about pulling back militarily.”
The intense attention given the commission’s report has generated increased national urgency about the problems in Iraq.
And, combined with growing public dissatisfaction and midterm election losses, the president may have a more difficult time pushing back ideas he doesn’t like than he did in ignoring the voices of prior critics.
Even Robert Gates, the administration’s nominee to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, acknowledged during confirmation hearings Tuesday what seemingly everyone outside the White House sees as obvious: The U.S. isn’t winning the war. The full Senate overwhelmingly confirmed Gates on Wednesday.
The president has taken some steps to address the mounting pressure. He has abandoned his “stay the course” rhetoric and did replace the combative Rumsfeld in favor of Gates, who had been a member of the Iraq Study Group.
The situation in Iraq is deteriorating daily – 10 U.S. troops were killed on Wednesday alone – and the nation is in urgent need of new policies and plans. The president needs to thoughtfully but expeditiously consider all options before Iraq slides into irreversible chaos.
