IRAQ NOW OFFERS A FLEETING OPPORTUNITY FOR SUCCESS
Over a nearly nine-month period, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group analyzed the US role in Iraq and concluded that the escalating violence there puts a stark choice before the US government: Despite direct expenditures of $400 billion through 2006, the US government either must quickly both assist and pressure the Iraqi government and political leaders toward reconciliation, or risk Iraq's soon becoming a failed state. Addressing this precarious situation implies
* that only Iraqi leaders can reach the political accommodation essential to stabilize Iraq and only US action can soon produce an effective Iraqi security force able to achieve and maintain internal security
* a US commitment to Iraqi security and development that is focused on rapid results and is not open ended
* accepting the limited objective of an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself as the most that can be realistically achieved and is the alternative to development of a longer-term threat to US interests and to the stability of the region
