An independent bipartisan commission will call on US President George W. Bush to order a measured withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, media reported yesterday amid mounting frustration at violence in the country.
As Bush met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan, debate raged in the US over whether the conflict should be called a civil war and the Pentagon ordered more troops into Baghdad.
The 10-member Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former secretary of state James Baker, said it would reveal its much-awaited findings next Wednesday.
But the New York Times reported that the panel agreed to recommend withdrawing 15 US combat brigades in Iraq -- the bulk of the US fighting presence -- but leaving 70,000 or more US trainers, logistics experts and members of a rapid reaction force.
The US currently provides the vast majority of the 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq.
The group did not say where the troops would go, and did not present a withdrawal timetable, which Bush has opposed. But it made clear that the US military commitment should not be open-ended. The panel could be a major chance for Bush to overhaul his policy as Iraq slips towards chaos and demands mount to bring US troops home. The recommendations are non-binding.
Crackdown on militias
New US anxiety over the failure of Iraqi to crack down on Shiite militias surfaced in a memo by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, which the New York Times published on Wednesday.
The memo said "reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action."
Yet at a joint press conference in Amman, Bush praised Maliki as the "right guy" for the job, and said US forces would stay in Iraq "to get the job done."
"This business about a graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all," he said.
Without any specific reference to the commission, Bush acknowledged a general pressure for US troop withdrawals but said, "We'll be in Iraq until the job is complete, at the request of a sovereign government elected by the people."
Maliki in turn said the two agreed "on the need to speed up the transfer of security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces."
The White House said the memo had nothing to do with Maliki's failure to appear at a planned three-way meeting on Wednesday with Bush and Jordanian King Abdullah II, with spokesman Tony Snow describing it as "jointly decided."
US military commanders said they were moving about 1,600 US troops to Baghdad in a bid to stem sectarian violence in the Iraqi capital.
General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said US commanders were sharing ideas with Maliki on where troops could come from to reinforce Baghdad.
But he denied a report that US officials were considering turning over volatile al-Anbar Province to Iraqi security forces and using the marines from there to reinforce Baghdad.
Controversy over how to refer to the raging violence in Iraq raged on meanwhile, as Democrat Senator Jack Reed said a "low level civil war" had been going on for months.
Hoping to stop a further slump in US public support for the Iraq war, Bush and his aides have refused to use the term, even though some US media outlets have now decided to use it.
Anthony Cordesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank said that the conflict could only be called a civil war.
"If you can find a dictionary whose definition of civil war does not describe this situation as a civil war, I would like to know what it is," he said, as he unveiled a damning report into deteriorating conditions in Iraq.
South Korea's ruling party said yesterday that it wouldn't back government plans to extend the deployment of troops in Iraq for another year without an agreement for the eventual withdrawal of all South Korean forces from the wartorn country.
Earlier, the Uri Party had claimed the government agreed to the full withdrawal.
But Noh Woong-rae, a party spokesman, said later that the government "hadn't accepted or agreed" to their proposal to remove all troops from Iraq by the end of next year.
He added, however, that the government would have to follow the parliament's position since it requires lawmakers' approval for any troop deployment.
The South Korean Defense Ministry said yesterday a pullout plan would be devised next year.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from