Governor Dean released the following statement in response to the report of the Iraq Study Group:
"I want to thank the members of the commission for their hard work and dedication. This report is an important and good first step. In the past, President Bush and his Administration have refused to acknowledge the facts on the ground in Iraq and turned a deaf ear to the advice of our military leaders on the ground. Democrats have long been calling for many of the proposals made in this report, including a phased redeployment of our troops and placing more pressure on the Iraqi government to take responsibility for its own security. "
"This report presents yet another opportunity for President Bush to change course in Iraq. The American people have made it clear and our brave troops deserve a new direction in Iraq. As the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, I hope that with the release of this report the President will take action to change course in Iraq."
The Report echoes what the American people said last month when they went to the polls: It is time for a new direction in Iraq. It is the clear that the President must be willing to change the course, and not just "stay the course" when it comes to dealing with Iraq.
As described by the New York Times:
Saying that "the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating," a bipartisan commission today urged stepped-up diplomatic and political efforts to stabilize that country, coupled with a shift in the mission of the American military to allow the United States to "begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly."
This could allow all United States combat brigades "not necessary for force protection" to be out of Iraq by the first quarter of 2008, the Iraq Study Group’s report said.
The panel studying the war in Iraq presented its findings this morning to President Bush, who said he would take their ideas "very seriously" and act on them "in a timely fashion," and then to Congressional leaders.
The report, by a 10-member commission headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d and former Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana, urges a commitment by the United States to work with Iran, Syria and other nations to bring stability to the region.
"We do not recommend a stay-the-course solution," Mr. Baker said pointedly at a question-answer session accompanying the report’s release. "In our opinion, that is no longer viable." Those remarks were sure to be interpreted, at least by administration critics, as a rebuke to President Bush.
So will the President take the report seriously? If his previous remarks are anything to go by...it's not too likely...
In the days before the report was released, the President had already dismissed what he anticipated to be a report contrary to his "stay the course" "strategy":
"We'll be in Iraq until the job is complete, at the request of a sovereign government elected by the people,'' Bush said. "I know there is a lot of speculation that these reports mean that there is going to be some sort of graceful exit out of Iraq...This business about graceful exit just has no realism to it at all,'' Bush said.
It's comments like that which lead me to question the President's idea of reality.
Of course, there's always Tony Snow, the President's spokesperson, saying at a Press Briefing that the White House will "study" the study. Yet when asked the following question:
QUESTION: On the evaluation of the report, it says the following, the co-chairs say the following, stay the course is no longer viable, the current approach is not working. The situation is grave and deteriorating. Chairman Hamilton says he is not sure whether the situation can be turned around -- Can this report be seen as anything other than a rejection of this president's handling of the war?
His answer?
SNOW: Absolutely.
Absolutely? Sounds less like "studying" the report and more like the same old spin.