Bush confidant prepares way for radical shift by US on Iraq

international | summit mobilisations | other press

Wednesday October 18, 2006 18:56

by MichaelY - iawm

After the UK General it's now the Americans

· Talks with Iran and Syria seen as way to end chaos
· Report leaked before crucial November polls

As the U.S. military reported today that 10 American troops had been killed the day before, raising the death toll so far this month to 69 and putting October on track to be the deadliest month for coalition forces since January 2005.

The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1924927,00.html) reports that a radical change in US policy over Iraq after the November elections appeared increasingly likely after reports that a bipartisan commission headed by a Bush family confidant will recommend an approach to Iran and Syria for help or a withdrawal to bases outside Iraq.

The Iraq Study Group is chaired by James Baker, who was the father Bush's secretary of state. It is not due to deliver its findings until after the congressional elections on November 7 because of their potentially explosive political impact, but the panel's proceedings have been leaked to the press.

In recent interviews, Mr Baker said the group has taken no firm decisions but made it clear that the current US strategy was no longer an option. "There'll probably be some things in our report that the administration might not like," Mr Baker predicted in a TV interview. He said: "Our commission believes there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate of 'stay the course' and 'cut and run'."

He made it clear he believed there should be approaches to Iraq's neighbours, including those the White House has accused of fomenting the insurgency. "I believe in talking to your enemies," he said. "Neither the Syrians nor the Iranians want a chaotic Iraq ... so maybe there is some potential for getting something other than opposition from those countries."

In a BBC interview yesterday, the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, expressed support for such a move, saying it would "be the beginning of the end of terrorism".

Mr Baker has also suggested that the US might have to give up its long-term war aim of democracy across the Middle East. Instead he suggested that the US define success as achieving "representative government, not necessarily democracy".

According to leaks published first in the New York Sun and then in the Los Angeles Times, the Iraq Study Group, which has consulted 150 outside experts including Syrian and Iranian representatives, is focusing on two broad options.

One is entitled "Stability First" and it would involve focusing the military effort on pacifying Baghdad while attempting to draw some insurgent groups into the political process and opening talks with Syria and Iran.

The second has been called "Redeploy and Contain", pulling US troops back to bases outside Iraq and conducting military operations from there in support of Iraqi government forces.

However they were spun, both would represent a measure of defeat for President Bush, but with a American death toll fast approaching 3,000, the new report may reflect a realisation he has no choice.

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Comments (5 of 5)

Hard to believe

by JR - iawm supporter

Wed Oct 18, 2006 19:01

Interesting story. Hard to believe yet so many unbelievable things took place over the last couple of months. Worth following.

The end of the beginning or is it the beginning of the end?

Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:56

Exporting justice and democracy to Iraq

A US Army Maj. General Thomas Turner announced yesterday that U.S. service members will face military trials in three separate cases for the murders of Iraqi civilians, including the gang rape and murder of a teenage girl and the killing of her family in their home in Mahmudiya. The General ordered the court-martial of four soldiers in the Mahmudiya case and said two of the four could face death if found guilty. One of the accused will testify against the others, according to his Washington attorney, David Sheldon.

The General also ordered military trials for four other soldiers accused of murdering three Iraqi detainees during a raid on a suspected insurgent camp near Thar Thar Lake, southwest of Tikrit.

In the third case, three U.S. Marines will be tried on murder charges in the death of an Iraqi grandfather kidnapped from his house in Hamdania in the middle of the night, the U.S. Marine Corps said.

Those cases, particularly the alleged Mahmudiya gang rape, as well as the killing of 24 people in Haditha, have sparked outrage among Iraqis. Mahmudiya led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

Haditha is still being investigated and no Marines have as yet been charged.

More details

According to U.S. military prosecutors, former private Steven Green shot dead 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi's father, mother and six-year-old sister in Mahmudiya, near Baghdad, in March. Green then raped the teenager and killed her, and tried to burn the bodies and house to conceal evidence of the crime. At least two other soldiers raped or tried to rape the girl before she was murdered, prosecutors say.

Pfc. Jesse Spielman and Sgt. Paul Cortez face the possibility of death if found guilty.

The court-martial will be held at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the military said. No date has yet been set.

In the Thar Thar case, four soldiers are accused of premeditated murder for the May 9 killing of three detainees. The soldiers -- Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard, Spc. William Hunsaker, Spc. Juston Graber and Pfc. Corey Clagett -- said the detainees were trying to escape when they were shot, but prosecutors say the detainees were freed before being killed.

A date has not yet been set for that court-martial. It will also be held at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Separately, three Marines -- Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington and Cpl. Trent Thomas -- will face trials on charges of murder and kidnapping stemming from the April 2006 death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania.

Seven Marines and a Navy medic are accused of dragging the man from his home, shooting him dead and placing a rifle and shovel next to his body to create the impression that he was an insurgent planting a roadside bomb.

Bush lies about Death toll

by Yusuf

Thu Oct 19, 2006 17:10

Not only has Bush admitted the situation in Iraq is now like it was in Viet Nam before the US was forced to run away but he continues to lie about the real US army death toll: Just as they did in Viet Nam.

This documentary made by Iraqi Resistance group Al Rashedeen Army shows the true figures and how they will deal with the US army. Part 3 especially deals with the death toll.

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COA_66-zp0g

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO17e-rULFU

Part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xka99qlTcGA

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drlbBongSSg&mode=related...arch=

Part5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAI0Gsdd8t0&mode=related...arch=

Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSIQrvoZtII&mode=related...arch=

This is another group of Iraqis with a message for the US peopl who are supporting the murder in their country. It warns them against the lies of Bush and his gang of criminals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTrhVY-Wwgs

idiots

by gullible

Thu Oct 19, 2006 17:21

This documentary made by Iraqi Resistance group Al Rashedeen Army shows the true figures

Ur having a laugh, like they would not lie!!

Time will tell

Fri Oct 20, 2006 01:40

Well , Gullible Idiot, I guess time will tell if only 2800 US soldiers have died as Bushs' criminals claim or if the figure is indeed closer to the 30,000 as Al-Rashadeen Army claim. Maybe you are right to trust Bush, I mean he hasn't lied too much so far. Escept for the Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mission Accomplished and Iraq being behind 9/11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvi-sovgVD4

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Bush confidant prepares way for radical shift by US on Iraq

Comments (5 of 5)