Huge task before Iraq Study Group

It is possible the Iraq Study Group may urge some sort of regional roundtable meeting on Iraq's future that includes Iran and Syria – a recommendation the White House has previously opposed.

Former Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke, a Democrat, recently said that a regional conference similar to the one he used to craft an end to the Bosnian war in 1995 might be useful.

"This war is being waged on the ground by ferocious forces which aren't necessarily going to be much interested in what regional and international players say," Mr. Holbrooke, who is not an Iraq Study Group member, said in a Council on Foreign Relations analysis. "Still, I think it's worth trying."

Of course, given the presence of Baker and other old-hand Republicans on the panel, it is also unlikely that the study group will urge any sort of timetable for a troop pullout – even a vague one. That's something Democrats might find hard to accept.

As to possible middle-ground solutions, the panel has reportedly been weighing an option called "Stability First," which emphasizes withdrawing US resources from much of the country to focus all efforts on Baghdad stability; and an option called "Redeploy and Contain," which would involve withdrawing most US forces to surrounding nations, where they would serve as a mobile reserve for Iraqi national forces.

Hamilton has said it is possible his group won't be able to come to consensus at all. As a party, Democrats remain split over the degree to which Iraq might still be saved, as well as over the nature of any troop withdrawal deadlines.

Not that the GOP, as a whole party, is now a unified front. Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona has said what's needed now is, in fact, an increase in US force levels in Iraq, at least for a time.

As to the dialogue between the parties, while key Senate Democrats have vowed to push for a resolution that would call for troop withdrawals in a matter of months, a withdrawal timetable appears to remain an anathema to the White House.

"I don't think we're going to be receptive to the notion there's a fixed timetable at which we automatically pull out," said Bush's chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, in a weekend broadcast interview.

– Wire service material was used in this report.

At work since April, the bipartisan panel is expected to suggest changes in US policy in Iraq by year's end. Its members are:

• James Baker III, former secretary of State (George H.W. Bush), co-chairman

• Lee Hamilton, former congressman (D) of Indiana, co-chairman

• Lawrence Eagleburger, former secretary of State (George H.W. Bush)

• Vernon Jordan, attorney, presidential adviser (Clinton)

• Edwin Meese, former US attorney general (Reagan)

• Sandra Day O'Connor, former Supreme Court justice

• Leon Panetta, former White House chief of staff (Clinton)

• William Perry, former secretary of Defense (Clinton)

• Chuck Robb, former governor of Virginia (D)

• Alan Simpson, former senator (R) of Wyoming

– Compiled by Leigh Montgomery

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