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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (71950)	10/8/2006 5:05:41 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 93284

Baker Says Iraqi Government Has Limited Time to Gain Control By Nadine Elsibai Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Former Secretary of State James Baker said the Iraqi government has a limited amount of time to gain control of the country before the U.S. must consider a change in strategy. Baker, co-chairman of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group set up to advise the Bush administration on the war, said he agreed with Republican Senator John Warner that Iraqi leaders have a timeline of two to three months to demonstrate concrete evidence of progress. The longtime Republican adviser said the 10-member commission is reviewing alternatives for Iraq, including creating a power-sharing arrangement among Sunni, Shiite and Kurd factions. A complete U.S. withdrawal over the next year is unlikely because that would unleash ``the biggest civil war you've ever seen,'' Baker said. ``There are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate, of `stay the course' and `cut and run,''' Baker said today on ABC's ``This Week'' program. Baker's comments and the remarks made last week by Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are adding to the pressure on President George W. Bush to change course in Iraq. Democrats are attempting to make Bush's Iraq policy a central theme in the Nov. 7 congressional elections and polls show a majority of the U.S. public opposes the war. Rising Violence At the same time sectarian strife has increased in Iraq, assaults on U.S. and Iraqi forces have risen since the start of Operation Forward Together in August when 3,500 U.S. soldiers were transferred to Baghdad to combat increasing lawlessness in the Iraqi capital. The U.S. military suffered 75 fatalities last month, its highest number since 79 were killed in April, according to the U.S. Defense Department Web site. One of Bush's strongest supporters in Congress, Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, echoed the president's stance that Iraq is part of a broader conflict against Islamic extremists. ``This is enormously serious because it's not just about Iraq,'' Cornyn said on CNN's ``Late Edition.'' Baker said the commission may release its recommendations by December. One of the suggestions under consideration is a proposal, advanced by Democratic Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, that Iraq be divided among the three major factions into semi-autonomous regions. Baker said there are arguments in favor of that approach as well as drawbacks. Boundaries ``There's no way to draw lines between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds in the major cities of Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk,'' Baker said. ``Furthermore, there are no boundaries between the Sunni areas and the Shiite areas in Iraq.'' The current Iraqi government is capable of stabilizing the country ``if it can acquire the political will necessary,'' Baker said. Iraqi Foreign Minster Hoshyar Zebari said the situation in Iraq isn't ``as desperate as people think.'' The Iraqi government needs to improve security and ``deliver on what it has pledged the people,'' Zebari said today on CNN. Efforts have ``been slow, but we have been moving steadily forward,'' Zebari said. ``We are not stalled or stopped.'' Baker, a lawyer who served in the administration of Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, warned before the March 2003 invasion that it was likely to require more resources and troops than were being dedicated to the task. ``I'm not sure that they will listen to our advice now, except that we are a bipartisan group that was formed at the urging of Congress,'' Baker said. ``The administration approved of the formation of the group and has been assisting us in going to Iraq.'' Baker was a key player in organizing international support for the coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's military out of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War. After leaving office in 1993, Baker said that, on the lecture circuit, he was repeatedly asked why the U.S. ``didn't take care of Saddam Hussein'' at that time. ``Nobody asks that question anymore,'' he said.