Iraq Report Says Situation 'Grave And Deteriorating'

Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker has called for a new diplomatic offensive in an effort to improve security in Iraq, including the opening of talks with Iran and Syria.

Baker was speaking as cochair of a report by Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission asked by the U.S. administration to review U.S. policy in Iraq.

The report described the situation in Iraq as "grave and deteriorating," and Baker said the group believes a "stay-the-course" approach is no longer viable in Iraq.

The report argues that the United States should start moving combat forces out of Iraq.

The other cochair of the group, Lee Hamilton, said violence is growing and becoming increasingly lethal. Hamilton said the Iraqi people are enduring great hardship and noted that U.S. forces are being attacked with alarming frequency.

Hamilton declared that the Iraqi government is not providing adequate security or advancing the cause of reconciliation.

The group also looked beyond Iraq, urging Washington to encourage direct talks between Israel and Syria as part of a revived U.S. commitment to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace "on all fronts."

The report is the culmination of eight months of work and, though the report's recommendations are nonbinding, its publication is seen as presaging a major change in U.S. policy.

Earlier U.S. President George W. Bush pledged to take the report "very seriously" and to act on it in "a timely fashion."

Bush said the report "gives a very tough assessment of the situation in Iraq" and that some of its proposals are "really very interesting proposals."

The report comes a day after after Bush's nominee to be the next U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates, said the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and that a fresh approach is needed.

(compiled from agency reports)

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