The Panel has Spoken

We'll soon learn what they'll say.

Yahoo! News has more:

The study group is expected to recommend regional talks involving
Syria and
Iran. The administration has been reluctant to engage those two countries, which it says have abetted the violence in Iraq.

It was unclear what the group would recommend regarding possible U.S. troop withdrawals, an issue that proved divisive during meetings this week. The members — five Democrats and five Republicans — were split over the appropriate U.S. troop levels in Iraq, and whether and how to pull American forces out, according to one official close to the panel's deliberations.

A second official has said the commission was unlikely to propose a timetable for withdrawing all U.S. troops, but that some members seem to favor setting a date for an initial withdrawal. That is an idea favored by many congressional Democrats.

The Iraq panel is expected to brief the administration and congressional leaders before making the report public.

A moderate proposal that has bi-partisan support. The Reasonable flame-throwers of both the right and left will surely hate every word of it.

That bodes well for the document.

I don't believe engagement with Iran or Syria will alleviate Iraq. They both have reasons for ensuring the Arab nation fails. However, plenty of others believe the troops should leave immediately. We may both be wrong.

Thus, the panel has an opportunity. If they make smart recommendations, then the US may have a plan to set Iraq on the right track. If they offer warmed-over half-heartisms that ultimately change nothing, then Iraq will continue to decay before our eyes. And the world's.

That will absolutely be on our hands as Americans?

Why?

We broke it, we bought it. Granted, Iraqis need to do their part. But we're the force for security in the nation and have been since Baghdad fell. Our policy blunders--from blanket Baathist bans to inadequate military police and occupation specialists to Abu Graib--provided the fertile ground for the terrorists to wage their reign of terror.

Yes, we removed a brutal dictator that should never have been allowed to rule. Yes, the people benefitted from the right to control their own destiny through democratic participation. However, we did not secure their nation when we had the greatest capacity and authority to do so. As a result, the Iraqi government scrambles to assume the security burden--with inadequate personnel that we're still training.

Meanwhile, factions of both Sunni and Shia Iraqis tire of waiting for the security everyone has promised them. They now take matters into their own hands.

Aided and abetted by the cynical puppet-masters in Damascus and Tehran, undoubtedly.

Doesn't matter. The final responsibility rests with us because we overturned the existing order in Iraq.

I hope that we succeed there. But if we don't, then the blame rests with us. Plain and simple.