Iraq Study Group Leaders Speak Out on the War

June 12, 2007 — -- The co-authors of the Iraq Study Group report said Monday they would not cut off funding for the war, even as they painted a bleak picture of the future for both Iraq and the United States, and recommended multilateral talks with Iran and Korea.

In December 2006, ISG released the Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward — A New Approach.

The study recommended diplomatic defenses, training Iraqi brigades and a national reconciliation effort by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamel al-Maliki. The report also called for a surge if the commander on the ground agreed the surge was timely and effective. The ISG set a March 2008 exit date out of Iraq, if the recommendations were successful.

Now both men say they doubt such a goal is likely.

In an appearance at the annual Gerald Ford Foundation Journalism Awards, former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, a Democrat, said, "Americans need to learn how to take a punch."

He also warned that whether it's good policies or sheer luck, future attacks on U.S. soil were imminent. Hamilton's statement echoed a similar warning from former Secretary of State James Baker, who said the United States needed to strengthen its defenses and "be prepared to go on the offense."

Baker and Hamilton wrapped up the evening by taking questions from the audience.

Both politicians said they believed a collaborative effort between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, not with military muscle, but through diplomatic engagement, was the key to success in the Middle East. Baker said the Bush administration's foreign policy had exercised "a bit more muscle" than Baker had expected when President Bush was elected. He insists that the United States needs to use its soft powers of negotiation.

Though diplomacy and bipartisanship were stressed throughout the Q&A, Baker and Hamilton agreed they would not vote to end funding for the war. They insist that no one wants to see a chaotic Iraq, neighboring countries and other countries alike. They believe that if the United States pulled out now, Iraq would be left in a state of utter chaos and plagued with regional war with power left dangerously in the hands of an unstable al Qaeda.