The ISG report is a non-starter

Even before the presentation of the report by the Iraq Study Group (ISG), some Republicans and neoconservatives were claiming that as it was from a non-elected body, there was no compulsion upon the US President to accept the findings. Unsurprising, really, as there had been leaks, most of which seem now to be accurate. Yet the caveat put up by the Republicans as a defence should they not like the report totally forgets that when committees appointed by the President, as the ISG, make their findings, it is expected for the President to at least take on board the majority of recommendations. Especially so if it is a bipartisan report, as this was.

Yet in their desire to provide "wiggle room" for the President, Republicans gave him an opt-out, should he so want. But that is always there with any report requested by the President; the purpose of such committees is to bring forward fresh thinking and the alternatives to policy that may be under consideration or is being pursued. So all the Republicans were doing was to stake their claim in advance that the report was likely to be unwelcome to them. And it is.

The ISG reiterated what has been known for a couple of years in the Middle East. It is that there is no miracle cure or magic wand that can be waved, to put an end to all the problems. If there was, it would likely have been waved to set the clock back three years, and take a different decision, not to go into Iraq. But there was worse: the ISG recommends talking with Syria and Iran - parts of Bush's axis of evil - to find a way out of the problem in Iraq.

Already it can be seen that this is a line Bush is unlikely to pursue.