The Daily Background

I wanted to talk a little bit about various results of the Iraq Study Group report being released (sorry if you’re already having ISG fatigue).

The first “true” post-ISG report poll has been released from Newsweek (”true” meaning that all interview dates were after the release of the report). The poll asks “As you may know, the Iraq Study Group headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton has released a report with its recommendations for changing U.S. policy in Iraq. From what you’ve heard or read in the news, do you generally agree or disagree with their recommendations?” Although 26% were not aware of the recommendations from the report and 15% were unsure, a clear plurality agreed with the report’s recommendations (39% agree vs only 20% disagree).

The high unaware percentage of respondents disappeared when the pollsters (Newsweek uses Princeton Survey Research Associates) started describing a few recommendations and testing specifics. The unsure level also dropped slightly. The results were dramatically in favor of the recommendations that the ISG made– that the President has so far been opposed to. For instance, when respondents were asked if they felt, as the ISG feels, that “The U.S. should threaten to reduce economic and military support to the Iraqi government if it fails to meet specific benchmarks,” an astounding 65% of those questioned agreed. President Bush has been opposed to doing this idea all along, which has been brought up a few times by the DoD and the soon-to-be-former SecDef, according to Woodward in State of Denial.

Another question posed to participants was “The U.S. should make a renewed and sustained commitment to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” as the ISG recommends. A quite significant majority of 61% agreed. Although President Bush has not specifically talked about trying to solve the Israeli-Palestinian situation as a way of helping the situation in Iraq through proxy, he has not shown an effective ability to work with either side in a way that creates even hints of stability in the past.

Another ISG-specific question asked respondents if they favor diplomatic outreach to Iran and Syria “for help in stabilizing Iraq.” A clear majority (57%) agreed this approach should be taken, while only 34% disagreed. The President has already more or less dismissed this- one of the more significant recommendations the Group made. Another new poll shows 75% of Americans favoring talks with Iran and Syria in order to cooperate on Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Times writes about the effect of the report’s release among Republicans:

The release of the report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group this week exposed deep fissures among Republicans over how to manage a war that many fear will haunt their party — and the nation — for years to come.

[…]
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page described the report as a “strategic muddle,” Richard Perle called it “absurd,” Rush Limbaugh labeled it “stupid,” and The New York Post portrayed the leaders of the group, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic member of Congress, as “surrender monkeys.”

Republican moderates clung to the report, mindful of the drubbing the party received in last month’s midterm elections largely because of Iraq. They said they hoped President Bush would adopt the group’s principal recommendations and begin the process of disengagement from the long and costly war. But White House officials who conducted a preliminary review of the report said they had concluded that many of the proposals were impractical or unrealistic.

Notably, Republican ‘08er John McCain has positioned himself on the hawk “anything less than complete military victory is defeat” side, while MA Gov Mitt “in favor of equality before I was against it” Romney claims has has not read the report yet, cause he’s on some trip which apparently doesn’t allow him to formulate opinions about anything. The NYT does not mention any other Republican ‘08er reactions.

As for the White House, I’ve heard that they’re trying to figure out how to react (surely they knew the ISG report results were not going to be the pony they had been expecting- what with two back-to-back leaks to the NYT and WaPo indicating this). Supposedly the President has read the full report but didn’t ask a single question to co-Chairs James Baker or Lee Hamilton when they formally presented it to him this past Wednesday. This is the type of thing people allude to when they say the President suffers from a suspicious lack of intellectual interest.

The President is said to be planning some sort of pre-Christmas address on Iraq, but this may not end up happening, according to some involved with the process. If not, it’ll probably be the main topic of the State of the Union Address in January (not that Iraq wasn’t already going to be the main topic of that– what else could be?). In the meantime, the Pentagon and the White House are developing their own little reports on Iraq, which the President is said to be eagerly awaiting. Just like he was ‘eagerly awaiting’ the ISG report.

Filed under: Iraq Related, Z-TDB Blog