Transcript
CARLOS PASCUAL: The report itself does several things, but the first sentence really sets the tone. It says, "It is a grave and deteriorating situation." And it's important that that kind of honesty is set as the foundation for the report. It talks about the internal chaos which is threatening people's lives. It uses the term humanitarian catastrophe. And as we know from other accounts, there are now on a monthly basis about 3500 Iraqis who are losing their lives and it's costing the lives of about 100 US Military every month.
The report underscores how militias are dominating the security environment. And we'll get into more details about what that means and the significance. It says that staying the course is not an option and that the concept of victory, at least if victory is defined as putting Iraq on the path to being a stable democracy is something which is not within reach.
The report itself divides its recommendations into two groups. The first calls for a new and enhanced diplomatic and political effort in Iraq and the region. And to achieve this, it calls for what it calls a "diplomatic offensive" by the United States and the Iraqi Government to build an international consensus for stability in Iraq and the region. It calls for a conference of national reconciliation in Baghdad. And it says that for that to succeed, it has to have the active participation of countries with a stake in Iraq's future, including Iraq's neighbors. In particular, that obviously has to mean Iran, Syria, and Turkey.
The second set of recommendations goes into the question of the US mission there and calls for a change in the mission of US forces in Iraq to accelerate the Iraqi Government assuming responsibility for the security parts of the mission and increasing US forces that are embedded with Iraqi units and a repositioning of US combat forces to focus on force protection presumably for those units that are embedded.
And by the first quarter of 2008, it sets—I don't want to say targeted, I don't want to say deadline—it sets a general goal that one should aspire to or that could be possible, it says, for all combat forces that are not necessary for force protection to be out.
One thing the report does not do, it doesn't address or raise four words. Two of them are civil war and two of them are failed state. And I think it's important to put these issues on the table.
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