Bush's reaction alarms Iraq panelist
President is still seeking advice on report, aides say
WASHINGTON -- Iraq Study Group member Leon E. Panetta believed that his panel's unanimous bipartisan recommendations about a new way forward in Iraq would give President Bush the political cover needed for a dramatic policy shift. So the former chief of staff to President Clinton has watched with alarm as Bush this week signaled that he may reject suggestions about diplomacy and withdrawing most US troops from Iraq by 2008.
Bush has even criticized the idea that the group was providing a "graceful exit" from the war -- which is what Panetta and other panel members figured Bush most wanted.
"I think he has been trapped by his own rhetoric," Panetta said in a telephone interview from his California office. Referring to a recent poll suggesting that 70 percent of those surveyed disapprove of Bush's handling of the war, Panetta said, "His ratings are so low now that he has got to do something to pull this country together."
But to those who know Bush best, the president's approach is not surprising. Bush's former chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr. , who was by Bush's side as he formulated many of his key decisions on the war, said Bush hears many opinions and thus believes that "his knowledge is more complete than anyone who is advising him."
Bush will still be "The Decider," to use the president's description of himself. Bush's aides said this week that he is listening to many opinions and is still deciding what to do. After initially saying Bush would make a speech to the nation before Christmas about his Iraq plan, the White House this week said the address would be put off until after New Year's Day because Bush doesn't want to be rushed into making a decision.
But the decision to reject some of the Iraq Study Group's 79 recommendations already seems clear, notwithstanding a comment from panel co chairman James A. Baker III that, "I hope we don't treat this like a fruit salad, saying, 'I like this, but I don't like that.' "
Card, in a comment that appears to mirror Bush's thinking, said he is "disappointed" with the report by the Iraq Study Group because many of the recommendations can't be implemented by the president, such as telling Syria to close its border with Iraq or persuading Israelis and Palestinians to forge a peace deal. The 10-person bipartisan panel was focused on presenting a unified conclusion, Card said, but Bush has to be focused on protecting Americans from terrorism and ensuring that Iraq doesn't become "a place from which terrorists could mount attacks" against the United States.
"The president has a lonely obligation," Card said. "The obligation is to protect us." Card said Bush could embrace recommendations that would "accomplish the mission" of a stable Iraq, but not "if they cause him to abandon the mission or leave Iraq as a kind of pot boiling over with hatred." If the latter is the case, Card said, "I don't think he would embrace the recommendations, and that is the challenge the president has."
Some elements of Bush's likely plan have emerged. He is expected to reject the recommendation of the Iraq Study Group to talk with Iran and Syria in hopes of gaining a regional solution, while leaving the door ajar for third parties to talk with Iraq's neighbors on behalf of the United States. Bush is almost certain to endorse the panel's recommendation that US training of Iraqi troops be increased.
But on the fundamental recommendation of trying to withdraw most troops by 2008, Bush is highly reluctant to take a step that he is concerned could lead to even greater chaos in Iraq. "By the first quarter of 2008, subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq," the panel said.
After meeting with advisers who opposed the recommendation, Bush said: "I've heard some ideas that would lead to defeat, and I reject those ideas -- ideas such as leaving before the job is done." .
But White House spokesman Tony Snow said in an interview yesterday that Bush's comment was not a reference to the Iraq Study Group report. Snow stressed that Bush is still studying his options, and said the president already has ordered more troops to be embedded with Iraqi forces on an advisory basis, as the panel recommended.
In recent days, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have told Bush they think the best chance of success is to shift the mission away from battling insurgents to training Iraqi security forces and hunting Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq. The joint chiefs have not requested large numbers of additional troops, but they oppose any timetable for withdrawal.
Some advisers, as well as Senator John McCain, a likely GOP presidential candidate, are advising Bush to add thousands of troops in hope that one last push will stabilize Baghdad. 