Word: bakers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...never know the multitude of options the Baker commission considered in preparing its recommendations for resolving the Iraq crisis, but here's one two-part strategy I'd wager no one thought of: Declare war, then...
...revealed: the Iraq Study Group will recommend a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Sort of. According to leaks of its expected findings, the Baker-Hamilton commission plans to call for a "pullback" of as many as 75,000 troops from the front lines. To those who believe that the only sensible option left in Iraq is for the U.S. to begin the process of extricating itself, the Baker group's proposal would seem to provide some reason for optimism. But before those people get too excited, they should read the fine print. The Baker plan reportedly doesn't specify...
...Democrats on the commission pushed for a deadline, arguing that only the unequivocal reality of a U.S. withdrawal would compel the Iraqi government to get its house in order and crack down on the militias and death squads tearing the country apart. But Baker reportedly opposed that proposal, stressing, among other factors, a common refrain of President Bush's: as David Sanger summed it up in The New York Times, "any firm deadline would be an invitation to insurgents and sectarian groups to bide their time until the last Americans were withdrawn, then seek to overthrow the government...
...examine the Administration's and Baker's anti-timetable argument more closely. As the thinking goes, the armed groups sowing mayhem in Iraq will lay down their guns as soon as the U.S. fixes a date for withdrawal. Since any reasonable timetable for withdrawal would still preserve some kind of U.S. troop presence for the foreseeable future, Baker and Bush would have you believe that tens of thousands of insurgents, terrorists and militia members are prepared to contain their furies for months, if not years - after which time they will presumably emerge tanned, rested and more bloodthirsty than ever...
...There is a growing sense in the capital that the Baker panel may be reporting too late to do any good. Indeed, hindsight suggests that "Too Little, Too Late" might be a more appropriate title for what the Pentagon christened Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lacking sufficient troops and armor to calm Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, U.S. troops were unable to suppress the insurgency that has percolated for three years. Now, with the addition of Shi'ite and Sunni militias fighting for control of Baghdad, the U.S. military doesn't have the firepower, or, it seems...