WaPo: House Votes to Revive Iraq Study Group [View All]

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102188.html?nav=rss_world/mideast/iraq

House Votes to Revive Iraq Study Group

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A13

The Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan panel that mapped out an alternative U.S. strategy for Iraq last December, may be reconstituted for a sequel.

In a sign of the growing public pressure on Congress, the House voted 355 to 69 yesterday to revive the 10-member panel chaired by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former congressman Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) to again review U.S. policy and offer new recommendations.

"I'm receptive to reconstituting the group, but I can only speak for myself as I don't know feelings of the group and Baker is traveling," Hamilton said in an interview. "If Congress thinks we can be constructive, then I think we should do it."

The House vote was on an amendment proposed by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) to an appropriations bill providing $34.2 billion for State Department and foreign operations. Now that the House has voted, a bipartisan group within Congress -- including Shays and Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) -- will seek an alternative source of funding since the bill is not likely to pass quickly enough for the Iraq Study Group to report in the fall.

Shays said the Baker-Hamilton group could play a pivotal role again. "Last fall, the Iraq Study Group provided Congress a thoughtful assessment on one of the most important issues of our time," Shays said in an interview. "As we approach another crossroad in this conflict, having that thoughtful insight again will be invaluable."

The goal is to have the group make its new report within about a month of the assessments scheduled to be outlined to Congress in September by Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker on military and political progress in Iraq, Shays said.

"You'll have two different reports and see where they complement and where they disagree. If they come to the same conclusion, then it gives endorsement to Petraeus or Crocker," Shays said. "If there's disagreement, then that is important as well."

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