The situation in Iraq is "grave and deteriorating." That is the blunt conclusion of a report presented to President George W. Bush last Wednesday. The report was put together by the Iraq Study Group, which was led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton. The 10-member panel of Republicans and Democrats has spent the past nine months analyzing Iraq.
"There is no magic formula to solve the problems of Iraq," the group warns. They set out a series of proposals that they hope will help the United States achieve peace and security in the nation. If all goes as planned, all U.S. combat troops could be out of Iraq by 2008, the panel said. There are currently 140,000 U.S. forces in the country.
President Bush acknowledged that the report "gives a very tough assessment." He promised to act on the findings in a "timely fashion."