A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, today focusing on the Iraq Study Group report and the reactions around the web.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
From Hundreds Of Sources, Panel Forged Consensus “After all the testimony and fact-finding, after all the white papers and working groups, after the flak-jacket, bombs-in-the-background visit to Baghdad, it came down to the same issue that has animated the broader national debate about Iraq for months: Stay or get out.” (READ MORE)
Iraq Panel Proposes Major Strategy Shift “A panel of prominent elder leaders yesterday offered a stinging assessment of virtually every aspect of the U.S. venture in Iraq and called for a reshaping of the American military presence and a new Middle East diplomatic initiative to prevent the country from sliding into anarchy.” (READ MORE)
Threats Wrapped in Misunderstandings “The Iraq Study Group's prescriptions hinge on a fragile Iraqi government's ability to achieve national reconciliation and security at a time when the country is fractured along sectarian lines…” (READ MORE)
Panel seeks final pullout in '08 “The Iraq Study Group yesterday urged President Bush to withdraw almost all U.S. combat forces from Iraq by the beginning of 2008 and called for the administration to engage directly in diplomatic talks with longtime foes Iran and Syria to correct a ‘grave and deteriorating’ situation in Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Democrats pledge 'extensive' analysis “Congressional Democrats say their criticisms of the Iraq war are vindicated by the Iraq Study Group's report and promised yesterday to begin "extensive hearings" in January that will continue for months.” (READ MORE)
Will Iraq Study Group’s Plan Work on the Battlefield? “The military recommendations issued by the Iraq Study Group run counter to assessments made by some of its own military advisers.” (READ MORE)
Will It Work in the White House? “President Bush faces the question of whether he is ready to embrace the spirit of the Iraq Study Group report and produce a new approach of his own.” (READ MORE)
From the Front:
T.F. Boggs writes What we should and should not do: An Authoritative Voice... “The Iraq Survey Group’s findings or rather, recommendations are a joke and could have only come from a group of old people who have been stuck in Washington for too long. The brainpower of the ISG has come up with a new direction for our country and that includes negotiating with countries whose people chant “Death to America” and whose leaders deny the Holocaust and call for Israel to be wiped from the face of the earth.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Jules Crittenden writes The Betrayal Part “When I was a kid, I wondered if I'd ever go to war. I wondered what that would be like. War was a constant backdrop. My uncle was killed in the war. A lot of kids' dads had been in World War II, Korea or Vietnam. We all played army, little kids training ourselves for war. In the 1960s, we were still doing duck-and-cover drills at school. Then I was 14 and listening to the radio, as only a few hundred miles away Saigon and Phnom Penh fell. War was what happened.” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes These Are The Realists? “The Iraq Study Group released its long-awaited report today, and while it has some important information on the current state of our operation in Iraq, its recommendations descend from some strange Utopian vision of peace and brotherhood that only exists in the fevered imagination of the so-called realists. The ISG calls for a ‘support group’ of nations surrounding Iraq and relies on their supposed self-interest in a stable and functional Iraq:” (READ MORE)
The American Mind writes ISG Recommends Talking with Iran “The ISG yearns for more international support yet admits “International support for Iraqi reconstruction has been tepid.” On Iran the group writes, “Iran has provided arms, financial support, and training for Shiite militias within Iraq, as well as political support for Shia parties.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber writes How dare we abandon our allies in Iraq? “All I have heard and read all Wednesday with the release of the Iraq Study Group report is how this is a unanimous and bipartisan way out of a war we cannot win. From James Baker and the others who stopped us 15 years ago short of Baghdad comes peace with dishonor. Again.” (READ MORE)
Spencer Ackerman writing at The American Prospect writes No Middle Ground “Given the specific lineup of the 10 wise men and women serving on the Iraq Study Group, the most conspicuous absence is that of supermodel Heidi Klum. Sure, she has no relevant experience in foreign policy, nor any real knowledge of Iraq -- but neither do commissioners Sandra Day O'Connor, Vernon Jordan, Alan Simpson, or Edwin Meese. What Klum does have to offer is a lesson completely lost on the commission, one taught each week on her hit reality show Project Runway: you're either in, or you're out. When it comes to Iraq, it's good advice.” (READ MORE)
George Will writing at Real Clear Politics writes A Report Overtaken by Reality “The Iraq Study Group, like the policy it was created to critique, was overtaken by the unexpectedly rapid crumbling of the U.S. position in Iraq since the ISG was formed in March. The deterioration was manifested in last week's misbegotten summit between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which made brutally clear how difficult it will be to apply even the ISG's temperate recommendations to the deteriorating reality.” (READ MORE)
Robert Kaplan writing at The Atlantic Online writes The Iraq Study Group “The mistakes made in Iraq since 2003 were so many and so serious that it is reasonable to argue that toppling Saddam Hussein was a wise decision, incompetently handled in its occupation phase. It is also possible to argue that the frequency and magnitude of the mistakes indicate a hubristic flaw in the concept of regime change itself, which I supported. Thus it is with humility and open-mindedness that I read the report of the Iraq Study Group.” (READ MORE)
Froggy writing at Blackfive writes A Modest Proposal From the Froggy Study Group “There is no way to sugarcoat the situation in Iraq except to say that what the American people THINK is happening there does not reflect the reality of what is actually occurring. Perception is reality in this case and if the war is perceived to have been lost here where the decisions are made, then like Vietnam, the successes and progress we have made so far don’t count for much. I am not interested in global opinion, elite media spin, or the inane advice of another blue ribbon panel.” (READ MORE)
Cal Thomas writing at Townhall.com writes This way out? “By its own admission, the Iraq Study Group (ISG) has submitted a "flawed" report to the president, to Congress and to the American people.” (READ MORE)
William Rusher writing at Townhall.com writes Decision time “With the Congressional elections behind us, and the Baker-Hamilton commission's report published at last, the stage would now seem set for a major national debate on the central question: Should the United States continue to seek "victory" in Iraq (however that is defined), or withdraw its forces from that country and leave it to whatever its fate may be?” (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson writing at Townhall.com writes Our Pearl Harbor “Sixty years after Pearl Harbor came another surprise attack on U.S. soil, one that was, in some ways, even worse than the ‘Day of Infamy.’”(READ MORE)
Hugh Hewitt writes ‘The ISG Speaks Not For Me,’ Or, ‘It's The Mullahs, Stupid’ “The almost instant reject of the central recommendations of the ISG Report by key officials in Iraq and Israel, and serious observers of the war is a refreshing bit of resolve. The criticism is withering and deserved. "A fatuous process yields, necessarily, fatuous results," writes Eliot Cohen in today's Wall Street Journal, a piece I hope the editors make available to the public generally. He continues:” (READ MORE)
Richard Fernandez of The Belmont Club writing at Pajamas Media writes The Baker Report: Speak Loudly and Carry a Small Stick “The Iraqi Study Group report is out. Here are a few first reactions to the study and its recommendations. First, the principal utility of this report is its succinct description of the internal and external players in Iraq and an outline of their respective goals, many of which are malevolent. As a guide to the game the ISG Report is first rate. However, the study recommendations are extremely disappointing.” (READ MORE)
Blonde Sagacity writes Terror Leaders *Heart* Iraq Study Group “The Iraq Study group released their findings and recommendations yesterday...a report that not only ‘calls for direct engagement with Iran and Syria’ (negotiating with terrorists?), but also counters military assessments. ‘The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. There is no path that can guarantee success, but the prospects can be improved.’” (READ MORE)
Pejman Yousefzadeh writing at RedState writes The Iraq Study Group Report “Having had some time to digest the news stories concerning the ISG report and to think about my take on the issue, I wanted to write this post. The first one is here and I stand by it. But there is more to say; and in this post, I want to cover (a) negotiating with Iran and Syria; (b) the future outline of Iraq and (c) more on the linkage between the fate of Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Let us take these issues in turn.” (READ MORE)
Cassandra writes And Your Old Men Shall Dream Dreams “Those poor souls who patiently hoped to salvage one bright, shining moment out of the ongoing train wreck that is the Iraq Study Group need wait no longer. Their faith has been amply rewarded. Finally we have before us the living refutation to six years of furtive and not-so-furtive allusions to neocons and neo-neocons, Leo Strauss and the pernicious influence of the pro-Israel lobby. For who can doubt the recommendations of the ISG portend a momentous turning of the tide in US-Israeli relations?” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express writes Anger, Tears and Fears “You know I made fun of the over the top histronics from the KOS kidz and DUmpers after President Bush won re-election in 2004. But today I am feeling some of the same hysteria. I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise, secure and safe in my home. I drove home this evening with a knot in the pit of my stomach and a massive headache. What the hell has happened?” (READ MORE)
Smash writes About that Iraq Report... “I HAVEN'T HAD TIME to read the entire Iraq Study Group report (it is 160 pages long). But I wanted to pause and share this thought with you: If you haven't read the Letter from the Co-Chairs yet, please take a moment and do so.” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nuthouse writes The ISG Report: Not Exactly 'Blood, Sweat, and Tears' “What could be significant about the ISG is that they may have initiated a change in the national conversation about Iraq. By painting such a dire picture of what is happening there and pointing out the catastrophe that is in the making, while establishing themselves as a bi-partisan voice, perhaps we can get away from this stupid, self defeating back and forth about “blame” which only scores political points and matters not a bit to what needs to be done, and start working together to figure out how we’re going to get out of this mess without blowing up the world in the process.” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Maru writes Fatuosity on Iraq: ISG is UN 'Mini-Me' "Eliot Cohen launches a stingingly accurate indictment of the Iraq Study Group in an op-ed in this morning's Wall $treet Journal, noting (correctly in my view) that it was set up in such a way that a useless result was inevitable (sound familiar?)" (READ MORE)
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