The Iraq War
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Iraq Study Group
    March 16, 2006

           
    The Iraq Study Group, formed by Congress on March 16, 2006, was a bipartisan team comprised of ten people. The ISG was led by co-chairmen James Baker, a former Secretary of State (Republican), and Lee Hamilton, a former U.S. Representative (Democrat). The other team members were Republicans Sandra Day O’Connor, Lawrence Eagleburger, Edwin Meese III, Alan K. Simpson, and Democrats Vernon Jordan, Jr., Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, and Charles S. Robb. The group, supported by the United States Institute of Peace, released their final report on December 6, 2006, in the form of the Iraq Study Group Report, which they presented directly to President Bush.        
    The report is comprised of a summary of the state of the situation in Iraq as well as seventy-nine policy recommendations on how to positively wrap up the situation in Iraq. The recommendations covered domestic issues such as budgeting and economic progress, political issues such as creating a stable and effective Iraqi government, military issues such as bring U.S. soldiers out of Iraq and how to better support the Iraqi army units, and diplomatic issues such as instigating direct talks with Iran and Syria. Many of these points had already been reported on and discussed before the release of the final report, this was just the culmination of all the work the Iraq Study Group had done. Among the key recommendations was Recommendation 41, which stated that “the United States must make it clear to the Iraqi government that the United States could carry out its plans, including planned redeployments, even if Iraq does not implement its planned changes. America’s other security needs and the future of our military cannot be made hostage to the actions or inactions of the Iraqi government.” This is basically ensuring that the U.S. will not be brought down by any other future problems in Iraq that might arise due to the Iraqi government and that its interests will be protected.
            Contrary to the general belief that the effort in Iraq was going well, the group opened up the report by saying that “the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating.” It also warned that the recommendations in the report were not a guaranteed fail safe plan. The release of the report generated a wide spectrum of reactions. Those who were critical of the Bush Administration’s handling of the war from the beginning were in favor of the report and commended the report’s recommendations, while supporters of the war effort were very critical of the report.