A HISTORY OF INDECISION

September 8, 2007
A HISTORY OF INDECISION

MARCH 15 US Congress creates the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission after co-chairmen James Baker and Lee Hamilton, and directs the group to study the situation in Iraq and offer policy suggestions.

DECEMBER 6 Iraq Study Group report calls situation in Iraq "grave and deteriorating" and makes 79 policy suggestions, including engaging Syria and Iran in diplomacy. President Bush vows to study the report carefully, but does not promise to abide by its recommendations.

Bush rejects the Iraq Study Group recommendation to withdraw troops from Iraq, and announces his decision to send 21,000 more US troops to Iraq as part of a "surge" to pacify Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. He says this will lead to a political agreement among violently feuding Shiite and Sunni factions to share political power in Iraq.