Baker-Hamilton Commission to call for troop pullback

This refers to the Iraq Study Group report that will be released late next week.

While many would argue that most people in power today have yet to accept the reality in Iraq, the Baker-Hamilton Commission is at least getting close to it.  On December 6th, the commission, otherwise known as the Iraq Study Group, will release its report.

A source tells the New York Times that the Baker-Hamilton Commission will call for a pullback of a significant number of U.S. troops from the line of fire:

The bipartisan IraqStudy Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report thatwill call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades nowin Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for theirwithdrawal, according to people familiar with the panel’s deliberations.

The report also focuses on more than just Iraq:

As described by the people involved in the deliberations, the bulk ofthe report by the Baker-Hamilton group focused on a recommendation thatthe United States devise a far more aggressive diplomatic initiative inthe Middle East than Mr. Bush has been willing to try so far, includingdirect engagement with Iran and Syria. Initially, those contacts mightbe part of a regional conference on Iraq or broader Middle East peaceissues, like the Israeli-Palestinian situation, but they wouldultimately involve direct, high-level talks with Tehran and Damascus.

Obviously this stops short of getting all the troops out and setting a firm deadline for being able to do so.  As the New York Times adds, the Democrats on the commission wanted a timetable:

Although the diplomatic strategy takes up the majority of the report,it was the military recommendations that prompted the most debate,people familiar with the deliberations said. They said a draft reportput together under the direction of Mr. Baker and Mr. Hamilton hadcollided with another, circulated by other Democrats on the commission,that included an explicit timeline calling for withdrawal of the combatbrigades to be completed by the end of next year. In the end, the twoproposals were blended.

I know this might be frustrating to many of you who read this blog on a daily basis.  But we are getting there.  The gravity in this debate is shifting closer to what we want: an acknowledgment of reality.  What we need to be doing in the blogosphere is pressuring Democratic lawmakers to add leverage by challenging Bush more on the alleged al Qaeda-Iraq connection.  If we go all-out in this debate from here on out by pressuring Democrats to be more aggressive, then it will likely speed up the process in which troops are redeployed to the periphery.

All of us, through blogs like this one and political action committees, can make a difference.  The lawmakers we need to be pressuring the most are the two most influential Democrats in the field of foreign relations: Joe Biden and Carl Levin.  They both chair influential Senate committees, therefore can control the tone of the debate and how long certain issues are to be debated.

This foreign policy discussion is only beginning.  But we need to get involved!