WASHINGTON, Dec 6: A high-level panel recommended to President George W. Bush on Wednesday that US troops should begin withdrawing from combat in Iraq and Washington should launch a diplomatic and political push to halt “grave and deteriorating” crisis in Iraq.
US Senate majority leader-elect Harry Reid, a Democrat of Nevada said: “Their report indicates that they agreed with what the election results were on Nov 7: there must be a change in Iraq.” “The president has the ball in his court now. It is up to President Bush to implement the recommendations.”
Edward Markey, a Democrat and a senior member of the US House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee said: “Last month, the voters threw the president's Iraq policy overboard. Today, the Iraq Study Group is throwing him a life raft. The President appears unaware that his 'stay the course' Iraq policy is going under, and that it's time to listen to some outside advice.”
“I truly hope that the President comes to his senses and concedes that we must drastically change course in Iraq.”
Duncan Hunter, US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee Chairman, a Republican of California said: “We should come out of this process as a unified country standing behind the president ... Let's speak with one voice as we move forward.”
“Let's get behind this president.” Saleem Al-Jubouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Accordance Front, the main Sunni Arab bloc in the Iraqi parliament, said: “We find some of its points positive but, on the whole, we feel it's vague and avoids some issues. We don't want to see an immediate withdrawal that would cause chaos but we wanted a timetable for withdrawal.”
“We think the issue of addressing Syria and Iran is an admission of their massive interference.”
“We don't see it as necessary to increase the number of US troops to train Iraqi forces. We just think they need to get more serious about it.”
Hasan Al-Shimmari, a senior official in the United Alliance Bloc and a member of the Small Fadhila Party, said: “I think it was correct to analyse that the problem is political. It's natural to have talks with parties who are using Iraq as a place to settle scores among themselves.”
