Baker's Iraq Study Group Gives Bush an F

All ten members of the bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats led by former Secretary of State James Baker may have purged some political language and softened the blow for President Bush but the report card by the Iraq Study Group is a resounding F and the recommendations fly in the face of some of Bush's preferred policies. Bush has no choice but to clean up his act.

Yahoo has the Associated Press story:

President Bush's war policies have failed in almost every regard, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded Wednesday, and it warned of dwindling chances to change course before crisis turns to chaos with dire implications for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.

(snip)

"The report is an acknowledgment that there will be no military solution in Iraq. It will require a political solution arrived at through sustained Iraqi and region-wide diplomacy and engagement," said Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats said the ball is in Bush's court.

"If the president is serious about the need for change in Iraq, he will find Democrats ready to work with him in a bipartisan fashion to find a way to end the war as quickly as possible," Pelosi said.

The Iraq panel's leaders said they tried to avoid politically charged language such as "victory," on the one hand or "civil war" on the other, but the words they chose were still powerful. The report says the current strategy is not working and lays out example after example where it has come up short.

As if to underscore that the conflict is hurtling out of control, the military reported that 10 American troops were killed Wednesday, adding to the toll of U.S. forces who have died since the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in early 2003.

Americans are tired of Bush's political games and right wing agenda. The hiring of Robert Gates may be a step in the right direction, but it is unlikely to be enough unless Bush brings more qualified, non-ideological help into his administration. The ISG report does not call for immediate withdrawal but make no mistake: withdrawal is in the wind, certainly before the end of 2008. America cannot wait two years for the repairs to begin to our foreign policy. Bush owes it to the American people to start listening to bipartisan advice.