AP - U.S. experts studying what to do next in Iraq said Tuesday that the next three months are critical and Baghdad's government must make more progress toward controlling the violence and rebuilding the nation.
WASHINGTON - U.S. experts studying what to do next in Iraq said Tuesday that the next three months are critical and Baghdad's government must make more progress toward controlling the violence and rebuilding the nation.
"The Iraqi government must act," said Lee H. Hamilton, co-chair of the independent, bipartisan Iraq Study Group. "The government of Iraq needs to show its own citizens soon — and the citizens of the United States — that it is deserving of continued support."
Hamilton and his co-chair, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, said Baghdad's government needs to secure a capital reeling in sectarian violence, make progress on national reconciliation, and provide electricity, water, and other services that Iraqis need.
The 10-member panel is working at the request of Congress to advise lawmakers and the Bush administration on the way forward in the beleaguered Iraq campaign. The commission has been working quietly for six months, meeting with more than 100 U.S. and Iraqi military and civilian officials and others to assess progress in the war and make recommendations.
It expects to meet with representatives of Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia and soon move on from fact-finding to the task of devising recommendations.
At a downtown Washington news conference, Hamilton and Baker declined to say what their assessment is of the situation in Iraq now or to indicate anything about their upcoming recommendations. They said recommendations won't be given to the government or made public until after the November election — to avoid politicizing them. They said they would not be more specific about when the findings might be released.
But Hamilton said the study group agreed that the next three months in the campaign are important.
"Each of us agrees that the next three months are critical," Hamilton said. "The challenges ... are many and they are daunting."
"Prime Minister (Nouri al-) Maliki has been in office since April and his government has been complete since June," Hamilton said. "The people of Iraq are looking to him urgently for leadership."
"No one can expect miracles, but the people of Iraq have the right to expect immediate action," Hamilton said.
09-19-2006, 03:30 PM
