Twenty-four hours after the Iraq Study Group released its report, Virginia congressmen praised the group’s bipartisan work but wavered in their support for the panel’s recommendations for changing U.S. strategy in the region.
The group — led by Republican James Baker and Democrat Lee Hamilton — said conditions in Iraq were “grave and deteriorating.”
The group urged direct talks with Iraq’s neighbors, including Iran and Syria, coupled with the withdrawal of U.S. forces by 2008.
The White House praised the group for its work, but said it was not likely to agree with all of its proposals. Baker and Hamilton testified on the report in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. The panel is chaired by Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner. “We commend you for the work that you’ve done,” Warner told Lee and Hamilton. “This committee, in the course of its deliberations on these issues — I assure you — will take into consideration very carefully the work product; the ability that you had to reach consensus between five Democrats, five Republicans.”
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., came up with the idea for the group in March 2006. He praised the group’s work.
“I think the Iraq Study Group has done a very, very good job,” Wolf told The Examiner. “I think they had a lot of good things to say. I think hopefully they can help develop a consensus in the country.”
Democratic Sen.-elect Jim Webb said he supported the call for talks with Iran and Syria, but said there needs to be a clearer path for removing troops while training Iraqi security forces.
“It is unclear to me whether the problems of the current Iraqi military stem from a lack of training, or from a lack of motivation based on the frail nature of the national government that it is designed to support,” Webb said. “There are many unresolved, little-discussed issues on this point that I look forward to examining in the coming months.” Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., took the issuing of the report as an opportunity to blast the White House.
“The Iraq Study Group has confirmed what some of us predicted four years ago,” Moran said.
“The Bush Administration has badly mishandled this war of choice and that its ‘stay the course’ policy is contributing to sectarian violence and instability in the Middle East.”
