Dec 10 - 2006
The fallout from the Iraq Study Group report has been varied and frequently surprising. What it is doing is forcing all quarters to re-examine and rediscuss.
Several voices since its release a week ago have argued that it is overly-idealistic and unrealistic - these include those of The Wall Street Journal, who called the Study Group plan "tragically muddled". Chief amongst governmental insiders is Senator John McCain, who calls it a "recipe for defeat". They have been joined by international voices, such as an Australian newspaper's headline "When Doves Cry..." and Lebanese news, proclaiming it "a diagram for defeat", just to name a few.
The loudest Democratic party partisans have been strangely quiet as this plays out, and those present with the president when he was briefed on the details of the report at its first presentation called him "warm" and "accepting" in demeanor. It's been an odd week in Washington...as the Dems begin to learn that the pat answers to extremely complex problems are not at all adequate. The good news is, the Study Group's project is forcing the Republicans to consider alternatives and re-examine the course, and it is likewise forcing the Democrats to think more realistically than usual and make a true effort at cooperative problem-solving discussion, for the first time in years.
The President has refrained from criticizing it, or even voicing any hint of an opinion, awaiting the coming "broad examination" of its details by various experts within the government. He will spend the next week in conference with various advisors, such as respected retired General Jack Keane, all of whom are also studying the lengthy report pending discussion with the president.
Here, Andrew McCarthy outlines intelligently and succinctly the reasons why the Study Group's recommendations to bring Iran in particular into the discussions around Iraq, would be a fatal mistake for the U.S. and the West.
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