Laura and Barney still in charge

Bush Expresses Caution on Key Points in Iraq Panel’s Report

President Bush moved quickly on Thursday to distance himself from the central recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group: pulling back all combat brigades over the next 15 months and direct talks with Iran and Syria.

One day after the independent panel rocked Washington with its bleak assessment of conditions in Iraq, Mr. Bush met at the White House with his closest ally in the war, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. The president said afterward that the United States needs “a new approach” in Iraq and that he would ‘’seriously consider” the report, but was unlikely to accept all of its recommendations.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the co-chairmen of the panel, James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, called on Congress to exert pressure on Mr. Bush to accept the report in its entirety. Mr. Baker told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the White House should not treat the report “like a fruit salad,” while Mr. Hamilton complained that Congress had been ‘’extremely timid” in overseeing the war.

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  1. Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator on 08 Dec 2006 at 12:44 am

    Bush, Blair to confer on Iraq

    President Bush meets with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday after a scathing bipartisan