A high-level, bipartisan group has called for the withdrawal of all US combat forces from Iraq by early 2008 and the immediate launch of a diplomatic offensive that would involve Syria and Iran in securing Iraq's future, writes Denis Stauntonin Washington
The Iraq Study Group's report, published yesterday, also calls for a renewed and sustained US engagement in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, leading to the return of the Golan Heights to Syria and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Describing the situation in Iraq as "grave and deteriorating", the report says only a combination of diplomatic action and dramatic changes in the US military role can prevent catastrophe.
Chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton, the Iraq Study Group was established by Congress in March with the approval of the White House.
Yesterday, Mr Baker said the task ahead was daunting but by no means lost. President George Bush's old strategy of "staying the course" was no longer viable, he added.
Mr Bush said yesterday that his administration would take "very seriously" the report's recommendations but stopped short of embracing the proposals. "It is a report that brings some really very interesting proposals and we will take every proposal seriously," he said.
The report calls for a withdrawal of US combat forces but an increase in the number of US troops embedded with the Iraqi military and the retention in Iraq of a robust US force for rapid reaction and special operations. It says US military and economic assistance to Iraq should be made conditional on the Iraqi government's progress towards political reconciliation and better governance.
The most controversial proposal is for a US-led diplomatic offensive to secure an international consensus for stability in Iraq and throughout the region.
It calls for direct talks with Iran and Syria, even if Iran fails to halt its uranium enrichment programme and says that Israel should return the Golan Heights to Syria as part of a Middle East peace settlement.
Democrats broadly welcomed the report and incoming House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the party was willing to co-operate with Mr Bush if he decided to change his Iraq policy.
"If the president is serious about the need for change in Iraq, he will find Democrats ready to work with him in a bipartisan fashion to find a way to end the war as quickly as possible," she said.
House Republican leader John Boehner criticised the report's call for a withdrawal of combat troops by 2008 and its recommendation that the US should talk to Iran and Syria. "We will not accomplish victory by setting arbitrary deadlines or negotiating with hostile governments," he said.