Baker-Hamilton report rejected by Iraqis (and possibly the White House)

Iraq President Jalal Talabani unilaterally rejected the Baker-Hamilton report put forward by the Iraq Study Group (Baker-Hamilton Commission) of the United States, believing that it dangerously undermines Iraqi sovereignty and its constitution (CNN.com). The report makes 79 recommendations for strategy in Iraq. Some recommendations include centralization of Iraqi oil wealth; a U.S.-led "diplomatic offensive" seeking help from other Middle Eastern nations, most notably Iran and Syria; allowing members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to serve in Iraqi government; and, of the most interest to Americans, a recommendation that most U.S. troops should be out of Iraq by early 2008 (CNN.com).

A Washington Post article dated two days ago chronicles the White House's struggle to find a strategy to announce and implement by Christmas. According to the article, there are three major alternatives that they are considering. While the White House claims that the Baker-Hamilton report's recommendations "are being considered alongside internal reviews," there is speculation that their potential formulas are alternatives to the report instead (MSNBC.com). The options being pondered by the White House are: redirecting U.S. troops from internal conflicts to focus on hunting al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists; sending 15,000-30,000 troops to Iraq for a short time "to secure Baghdad and accelerate the training of Iraqi forces;" and concentrating political attention to supporting the majority Shiite party in Iraq and stopping seemingly futile efforts to reach out to Sunni insurgents (MSNBC.com).

President Bush is and has been between a rock and a hard place regarding the Iraqi situation. Now that the Iraq Study Group has released its report, the pressure has intensified with an impending deadline. His determination thus far to "stay the course" in Iraq seems to lead to the conclusion that he would choose to send more troops to Iraq to further the same goals. However, due to the outpouring of dissent regarding a) sending more troops overseas and b) his "course" that has had no readily visible effect, it is very likely that one of the other options will be pursued.