Here it is guys:

http://wid.ap.org/documents/iraq/2006isg_report.pdf

and here as well;

http://www.bakerinstitute.org/Pubs/iraqstu...up_findings.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/opinion/...agewanted=print

December 7, 2006

Editorial
Welcome Political Cover

When President Bush insisted that the Iraq Study Group would not provide cover for the White House to chart a “graceful exit” of American troops, he was missing the whole point. The much-anticipated report from the bipartisan panel is precisely about political cover. That is a good thing, if only Mr. Bush has the sense to embrace it.

Iraq is so far gone that nobody expected the panel to come up with a breakthrough solution. As the co-chairmen — former Secretary of State James Baker and former Representative Lee Hamilton — began their letter accompanying yesterday’s report, “there is no magic formula to solve the problems of Iraq.” And the study was never going to change the basic facts: there is no victory to be had in Iraq, and however American troops withdraw, they will leave behind a deadly mess.

Its real mission was to avert the worst scenario, in which a stubborn George W. Bush spends the next two years blindly insisting he will accept nothing short of victory, while Iraq keeps spiraling out of control and the Iraqis get no closer to being able to contain the chaos after the Americans leave.

That is a recipe for years more of savagery, a spillover of terrorism and instability across the Middle East, more sacrifice of American soldiers and more cynicism and division among the American people. Avoiding it is not the same as winning the war, but it is a way to cut one’s losses.

If Mr. Bush has the capacity to seriously reassess his Iraq strategy, he will need exactly the kind of political cover that the Baker-Hamilton group was meant to provide. The central point of the group’s 79 unanimous recommendations is that Washington should focus far more aggressively on training Iraqi forces and prepare for a withdrawal of American troops. The report says all combat brigades could be out by early 2008, but that would still leave tens of thousands of soldiers behind to hold the Iraqi Army together.

That is to be combined with a lot more pressure on the Iraqis to make political compromises and take responsibility for their own security (the report lays out clear milestones and says the United States should reduce its military and economic support if the Iraqis resist) and more aggressive regional diplomacy, including talks with Iran and Syria that Mr. Bush has ruled out.

Make no mistake, the report is a stunning indictment of Mr. Bush’s failure — in Iraq and no less in Washington. But its recommendations are still couched in language vague enough to allow the president to pretend it is the “new way forward” his aides are now talking up, rather than a timetable for withdrawal, which is on Mr. Bush’s no-go list. Predictably, the first reaction of Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, was to insist that “there is nothing in here about pulling back militarily.”

The world has watched as Mr. Bush painted himself into a corner and then insisted it was a strategic decision. Even the Iraqis are trying to provide cover to for him to come tiptoeing back to the real world. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s call for a regional conference on Iraq would allow the administration to get past its refusal to talk to Tehran and Damascus, by saying that ban was never meant to include Iraqi initiatives.

The Iraq report is a deeply diplomatic document, stuffed with “coulds” and “mights.” It is, all in all, exactly the kind of shades-of-gray thinking that Mr. Bush despises, and exactly what he needs to get the country out of the hole he has dug.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/inter...agewanted=print

December 6, 2006

Iraq Panel Recommends U.S. Focus on Iraqi Troop Training
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:51 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Iraq Study Group recommended on Wednesday that U.S. forces withdraw from combat over the next year and focus on training Iraqis, offering President Bush the outlines of an exit strategy from the unpopular war.

The panel, which said there was no ``magic formula'' for resolving the Iraq conflict, also urged direct U.S. engagement with Syria and Iran on stabilizing Iraq, White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

Bush has so far rejected direct talks with both countries, which he blames for fomenting trouble in Iraq.

The Republican president said he would take the report ''very seriously'' after meeting the influential bipartisan group, but the White House has made clear he will not be bound by its conclusions and has begun its own review of Iraq policy.

``This report gives a very tough assessment of the situation in Iraq,'' Bush said after meeting for about an hour with the group's five Republicans and five Democrats. ``I told the members that this report, called 'The Way Forward,' will be taken very seriously by this administration,'' Bush said.

Snow said the report also recommended that the U.S. military launch a rapid effort to train Iraqi forces to defend their country. It recommends no specific timetable for U.S. troop reductions, he said.

The report, which is to be released at 11 a.m. (1600 GMT), stresses that Iraqis need to take on a larger share of the military role.

More than three-and-a-half years after the March 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, about 140,000 American troops remain in Iraq fighting an insurgency and trying to stop savage sectarian strife between Shi'ites and Sunnis.

The conflict has lasted longer than U.S. involvement in World War Two and has killed more than 2,900 American troops.

Ethnic fighting has killed thousands of Iraqis, raising debate over whether the country has descended into civil war and whether the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki can stem the carnage.

Bush has been under added political pressure to change course in Iraq since the November 7 elections when U.S. voters, who had soured on the war, ended Republican control of Congress.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-I...agewanted=print

December 6, 2006

Highlights of Iraq Report
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:50 p.m. ET

Highlights of the Iraq Study Group report:

-- U.S. policy and diplomacy:

The commission warned that ''current U.S. policy is not working,'' and said America's ability is diminishing to influence a situation in Iraq that it called ''grave and deteriorating.'' It recommended a diplomatic offensive to quickly engage Syria, Iran and the leaders of insurgents in negotiations on Iraq's future. The report also suggested the challenging goal of resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict to ease hostility throughout the Middle East.

The panel framed a carrot-and-stick approach to hasten progress by the Iraqi government. It said milestones must be set to measure improvements in security, governance and reconciliation, and said the U.S. should make it clear that if progress is not made American support will be reduced. As an added incentive, the panel said the U.S. should provide $5 billion a year in economic assistance, better coordinate humanitarian and other aid and encourage other countries to help.

-- U.S. military:

While emphasizing there is no solely military solution to the war, the panel laid out a wide range of options for the armed services. The commission rebuffed proposals to either immediately withdraw U.S. forces or dramatically increase troop levels by as much as 200,000, saying more Americans could increase the violence but too much is at stake to abandon the country. There are about 140,000 U.S. troops there now.

The commission instead endorsed a short-term surge in troops devoted to training and equipping Iraqi security forces. It suggested increasing the number of trainers from 3,000-4,000 currently to up to 20,000 -- with the goal of withdrawing the bulk of U.S. combat troops by early 2008.

The panel also spoke of what many critics have suggested is a worsening relationship between the military services and their civilian leaders. The successor to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should make senior military officers feel free to offer unvarnished advice, the report said.

-- Iraq's economy:

While warning that ''the period of large U.S.-funded reconstruction projects is over,'' the commission said the U.S. should work faster to implement assistance programs in Iraq, and give U.S. officials more flexibility to quickly fund or eliminate programs. The report said oil production is a key to Iraq's success, and it encouraged greater international investment in the oil industry, its management and its security.

-- Intelligence failures:
The panel said the Pentagon and CIA have too few people with the language skills and cultural expertise to operate effectively in Iraq, and said that problem has hampered intelligence gathering. It said that ''all of our efforts in Iraq, military and civilian, are handicapped by Americans' lack of language and cultural understanding.''

For example, the panel noted that there are fewer than 10 Defense Intelligence Agency analysts with more than two years of experience in analyzing the insurgency. Government agencies, the report said, must have a better personnel system that keeps experienced people on the job.

The commission said the CIA must put more people in Iraq to help train the Iraqis in intelligence gathering and develop a counterterrorism intelligence center to analyze data on the insurgency. The panel said intelligence officials have underreported the violence in Iraq, and need to change how the data are gathered in order to get a better understanding of how the insurgents are working.

-- Afghanistan:
The commission returned to the start of the war on terror, saying the U.S. must not lose sight of the threat in Afghanistan. If the Taliban gain more control there, the panel said, that could provide al-Qaida ''the political space to conduct terrorist operations'' and further destabilize the region. It recommended that combat forces moved out of Iraq could be used to provide additional military support to Afghanistan.

wats your opinion guys wat will happen after US is leaving IRAK like they planed 2008, can they handle it alone ??i mean there army is poor and the iraki politicals not so strong at this time to handle with all that dif. people..religions kurds arabs .....

:doubt:

regards

After the Americans leave, will Iraq be strong enough to keep together? The Kurds have practically their own state and I believe that if the central goverment does not recognise this status of autonomy they will break away. If Iraq tries to force them back ( i dont think their military would be capable to do so however) we might have the incredible scenario of the Kurds (in case they cant hold their own) giving Turkey some oil fields in exchange for military help. It may seem far fetched but weirder things have happened. Perhaps they will ask Iranian help although i dont think they trust them enough to do so. But then again Turkey may invade from the north supposedly helping Iraq and then refusing to withdraw. Who knows?

hi,
2 moths ago (external minister of Turkey) Abdullah Gül said that if there would be a civil war we would protect our friend kurds and turks there in iraq!!!!

this means after usa gone we will be the guard of the area :angry:

for some oil

politics is bad.
they play with other peoples sons blood.

already irak is hell right now.
Kaan.

war ended in 2 moths with no loss but now resistance is making Usa cry !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5g3w0DqQq4...related&search=



kaan

I firmly believe that ( and was of this opinion as the war started then) the eventual winner in demise of the dictatorship in Iraq was IRAN. Even a grad student who haphazardly happened to read some IR could reach to that conclusion how come the analysts of MoD, CIA and intelligentsia of USA fail in that. This is sheer misery to me, and will never ever grasp it. The loser is Usa AND sUNNÝTES but in the long run alsoKurds of N. Iraq, who will i am afraid will find themselves in internal strife,which will surpass in cruelty Saddam's death squads by miles.
Iraq? Iraq is screwed my pal.
I cant help suspecting, if everything was a set up to create the next evil empire following the demise of Communism, an islamic one. Yeah I know sounds silly but so is everything Bush Government did.