The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 70/No. 49           December 25, 2006  
 
 
U.S. rulers debate strategy to advance war in Iraq
Many call for sending more troops
 (front page)
 
BY SAM MANUEL  
WASHINGTON, December 13—In the wake of the release of a report by the Iraq Study Group on December 6, the U.S. rulers have intensified discussion on how best to press Washington’s war in Iraq with the aim of establishing a stable client regime in Baghdad. The debate is fueled by the unceasing warfare among bourgeois factions in Iraq vying for a greater share of power.

At the same time, more capitalist politicians and pundits are pressing to send additional U.S. troops to Iraq.

These include Sen. John McCain, a leading contender for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in the 2008 elections. Speaking December 10 at Yeshiva University, McCain warned against a “precipitous American troop withdrawal.” He added, “If U.S. forces begin a pullout, we risk all-out civil war and the emergence of a failed state in the heart of the Middle East.”

A top Democrat, Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, called for sending 20,000 to 30,000 more troops to Iraq. In a December 5 interview with Newsweek, he said, “We’re not going to have stability in Iraq until we eliminate those militias, those private armies.”

The Iraq Study Group (ISG) was a commission cochaired by James Baker, a Republican and former U.S. secretary of state, and Lee Hamilton, a Democrat and former congressman.

The report it issued last week rejects a “precipitous” withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq. It also proposes a “redeployment” of about half the U.S. troops there to nearby bases, and endorses a “short-term” surge of U.S. forces in Baghdad to stabilize the Iraqi capital. It calls for accelerating the training of Iraqi security forces by embedding more U.S. army and police trainers into Iraqi units. And it says the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan should be increased.

The report’s conclusions were endorsed by liberal editors like those of the New York Times, but were assailed by much of the conservative press and former military officials.

The Investor’s Business Daily called its proposals “pathetic: a pullout dressed in fancy language.”

Retired Army chief Jack Keanne, who served as ISG military adviser, said its proposals are entirely impractical, the December 7 Times reported.

U.S. president George Bush said he would “study” the ISG’s proposals but would consider other recommendations too. On December 12, the White House announced that Bush will wait until January to give a speech on Iraq, which had been expected before the holidays.  
 
 
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