Iraq: the Beltway view
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238&page=3
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly
all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind
troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis, the Washington Post’s
Peter Baker and Thomas Ricks report. LINK
In a story that reports that the Bush Administration is deliberating
whether to abandon reconciliation efforts with Sunni insurgents, the
Washington Post’s Robin Wright reports that U.S. officials are
increasingly concerned that their reconciliation efforts may even
have “backfired,” alienating the Shiite majority and leaving the
United States vulnerable to having no allies in Iraq. LINK
In a news analysis, David Sanger of the New York Times describes the
current moment as possibly President Bush’s last to alter his Iraq
strategy and redefine the terms of victory as nearly everyone in
Washington seems to no longer be debating if troops should start
coming out of Iraq, but instead simply debating when and how rapidly.
LINK
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Marc Sandlow sees President Bush’s
comments while traveling in the Middle East as yet another example
“that the world of public Bush-speak — from his vigorous support for
al-Maliki and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to his rejection of
direct diplomacy with Syria and Iran — bears little relation to what
goes on behind the scenes.” LINK