WASHINGTON — Bush administration policies have set off a "slide toward chaos" in Iraq, a bipartisan national commission declared Wednesday in a major reappraisal that challenges President Bush's view of the war and builds new pressure for disengagement.
In uncompromising and dismal terms, the panel said the continuing deterioration in Iraq could inflame the entire region in a deadly war that would further curtail U.S. influence throughout the world. It issued 79 recommendations that counter many hardened administration stances, such as holding talks with Syria and Iran, and more forcefully pushing Iraqi leaders toward political advances.
"The current approach is not working, and the ability of the United States to influence events is diminishing," said former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), who leads the 10-member Iraq Study Group with former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. "Many Americans are understandably dissatisfied. Our ship of state has hit rough waters. It must now chart a new way forward."
The panel's report, coming after a midterm election widely seen as a repudiation of Bush's war policy, is certain to further transform the growing national debate on Iraq -- with Democrats and many Republicans agreeing Wednesday that its conclusions pointed to the urgent need for new strategies.
But even as pressure grows on the White House to change course, Bush stopped short of any immediate endorsement of the recommendations. The president has signaled that he is considering strategy proposals from a number of sources, but told study group members in a morning meeting that he viewed their report as "unique" because of the panel's bipartisan composition.
The commission's findings were issued on a day when the military reported 10 U.S. service members were killed in Iraq, the highest daily toll in weeks and a reminder of the results of a war policy now widely seen as failing.
The report also came a day after Robert M. Gates, who will be sworn in as secretary of Defense this month, told Congress that America was not winning the war -- and just days after disclosure of a memo by outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in which he said U.S. strategy required a "major adjustment."
