Iraq Study Group

Re "Return fire from the right," Dec. 8 In this article on criticism of the Iraq Study Group, conservative commentator William Bennett is quoted as saying: "In all my time in Washington, I've never seen such smugness, arrogance or such insufferable moral superiority." Apparently Bennett's idea of reasoned debate is to attack the messenger. Does he really believe President Bush's plan is working? JAMES FOURNELL Anaheim The much-touted Iraq Study Group report was released last week only to be pooh-poohed by the White House because it shows how poorly it has handled the Iraq war and goes against most everything the White House has said it plans to do in the future.

For more than a year, U.S. commanders have agreed on the need to assign advisors to Iraqi military units to help them secure their country and allow American troops gradually to withdraw. But only about 5,000 of the 135,000 American military in Iraq are now engaged as full-time advisors. In one of its clearest recommendations Wednesday, the Iraq Study Group called for the military to greatly expand this effort.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S RESPONSE President Bush's remarks Wednesday after receiving the report of the Iraq Study Group, as transcribed by the White House: I just received the Iraq Study Group report prepared by a distinguished panel of our fellow citizens. I want to thank James Baker and Lee Hamilton and the panel members for spending a lot of time on this really difficult issue. And I thank you for coming into the White House today to give me a copy of this report.

Re "Bush warns he won't be rushed on plans for Iraq," Dec. 14 With an average of two Americans and 100 Iraqis dying every day in Iraq, President Bush has stubbornly chosen to wait two or three more weeks before deciding how to proceed with a war that he has been leading for the last three years. It is appalling that one human being can have such a negative effect on so many people around the world. Bush will hold a very high position in the pantheon of failed presidents. BRYAN HAYS Saugus It appears that Bush's "listening tour" included only those voices that corroborate his failed Iraq strategy.

Re "Breakthrough," editorial, Feb. 28 The U.S. and foreign media seem surprised that the Bush administration will finally talk with Iran and Syria in Baghdad, as the Iraq Study Group recommended. The fact that the U.S. will meet with these two rogue states is not all that surprising nor a reversal in policy. Just as President Bush kept his cool and refused to meet face to face with Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, but insisted on a six-party conversation that is now paying dividends in restraining North Korea's nuclear ambition, this is what the U.S. will be doing in Iraq.

"The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward -- A New Approach," published by Vintage last week, has sold 35,000 copies so far, according to Nielsen BookScan, a book-industry group that collects weekly sales data from chain stores, online sites, mass merchandisers and independent bookstores. A Vintage spokesman said the publisher had 250,000 copies in print, but declined to say whether there were plans for further editions. Retail sales of the slim, $10.

Re "Iraq study group: dismal findings; dismal day," Dec. 7 The report from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group lays out in clear terms the terrible consequences of continuing the current Bush foreign policy: expansion of chaos to other parts of the Middle East, complication of the Israeli-Palestinian situation, further erosion of the world's confidence in the United States. The message to the president is clear: It's time to stop worrying about your image and do the right thing. We should be working with all the key parties in the Middle East to achieve a stable Iraq, even those countries (such as Iran and Syria)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert disagreed Thursday with assertions by the Iraq Study Group that tie the fate of efforts to stabilize Iraq to progress in resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict. In his first public response to the recommendations of the U.S. bipartisan commission, Olmert said he rejected any "attempt to create a linkage between the Iraqi issue and that of the Middle East."

FROM the start, the debate over the war in Iraq has been conducted in phrases at once fevered and self-deceiving. If "The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward -- A New Approach" does nothing else, it has recalled our national conversation to the language of sobriety and to a syntax that elevates words whose meaning is plain. This is no small thing, for to borrow Wittengenstein's famous aphorism: "The harmony between thought and reality is in the grammar of the language."

A letter from the co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group accompanying their report on revamping U.S. policy in Iraq: There is no magic formula to solve the problems of Iraq. However, there are actions that can be taken to improve the situation and protect American interests. Many Americans are dissatisfied, not just with the situation in Iraq but with the state of our political debate regarding Iraq.