2007.06.28: June 28, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Fiji: Politics: Congress: Iraq: Connecticut Post: Shays asks for new Iraq progress study

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Fiji: Special Report: Former Congressman Chris Shays: RPCV Congressman Chris Shays: Newest Stories: 2007.06.28: June 28, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Fiji: Politics: Congress: Iraq: Connecticut Post: Shays asks for new Iraq progress study

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Shays asks for new Iraq progress study

Shays asks for new Iraq progress study

The House last week voted 355-69 in favor of an amendment offered by Shays to provide $1 million to have the independent, bipartisan group review the situation in Iraq since it released its official report on Dec. 6, 2006. The entire Connecticut delegation supported it. Congress, however, is not expected to complete work on the bill until this fall and the money to get the study rolling is needed now. That's why Shays wants the White House to step up to the plate. "It is a risk," Shays said. "But if the administration believes in what they are doing [in Iraq] they should have every reason to believe that the Iraq Study Group will be nonpartisan." Shays said that he has spoken to the U.S. Institute of Peace, which organized the ISG, and to Lee Hamilton, a co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, about reviving the bipartisan panel. His impression was that they would not be interested in acting as a counter voice to Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, who is expected to report to Congress on the war's progress this September. The group would, however, be willing to review their recommendations and the overall progress in Iraq. Chris Shays of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji in the 1960's.

Shays asks for new Iraq progress study

Shays asks new Iraq progress study

PETER URBAN purban@ctpost.com

Article Last Updated: 06/27/2007 11:43:44 PM EDT

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration should reconvene the Iraq Study Group to offer an independent assessment this fall of progress on the war, according to Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4.

The House last week voted 355-69 in favor of an amendment offered by Shays to provide $1 million to have the independent, bipartisan group review the situation in Iraq since it released its official report on Dec. 6, 2006. The entire Connecticut delegation supported it.

Congress, however, is not expected to complete work on the bill until this fall and the money to get the study rolling is needed now.

That's why Shays wants the White House to step up to the plate.

"It is a risk," Shays said. "But if the administration believes in what they are doing [in Iraq] they should have every reason to believe that the Iraq Study Group will be nonpartisan."

Shays said that he has spoken to the U.S. Institute of Peace, which organized the ISG, and to Lee Hamilton, a co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, about reviving the bipartisan panel. His impression was that they would not be interested in acting as a counter voice to Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, who is expected to report to Congress on the war's progress this September.

The group would, however, be willing to review their recommendations and the overall progress in Iraq.

Liberals and anti-war groups have hammered Shays in the last week over his call for a second ISG report.

"Chris Shays has done nothing but thump his chest, talking about his 17 trips to Iraq and how he knows more than anyone, including the Iraq Study Group," complained Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org., a group chaired by 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark.

"Chris Shays cannot continue to talk out of both sides of his mouth and expect to have any credibility left at all," said Americans Against Escalation in Iraq spokeswoman Moira Mack. "Chris Shays claims he values the Iraq Study Group, but when he had the opportunity, Shays didn't vote for the group's recommendation of a safe, responsible redeployment of American troops out of Iraq," Mack said. "It's hypocritical and disingenuous for Chris Shays to call for the reconvening of a group he has ignored."

Shays said that he is "ticked off" by the criticism.

"The blogs that think that I don't support the Iraq Study Group, well, that's just bull ," he said.

Shays said the panel's December report made three key recommendations that he fully supports:

? Shifting "policing work" from the U.S. military to Iraq security forces.

? Expanding diplomatic relations in the region.

? And, setting a deadline for Sunni, Shia and Kurdish leaders to reach a national reconciliation agreement.

Shays also noted that while the Iraq Study Group clearly rejected a substantial increase of American troops in Iraq, it did state that it could support "a short-term redeployment or surge of American combat forces to stabilize Baghdad, or to speed up the training and equipping mission, if the U.S. commander in Iraq determines that such steps would be effective."

Shays said he voted against several Democratic proposals to withdraw troops from Iraq because they set a timeline that did not consider whether Iraq would be capable of handling its own security.

"It would be immoral to have a deadline set before they are able to take over," Shays said.

Shays spoke Wednesday at a news conference in the U.S. Capitol with Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va.; Dan Lipinski, D-Ill.; and Michael McCaul, R-Texas. All support reconstituting the Iraq Study Group.

Wolf, who proposed the first ISG, said that he hopes the panel can work quickly to issue a new report. Their effort, he said, would be valuable because it would provide an independent, bipartisan assessment that "will take the venom out of the current debate and give our country answers about how we can move forward."




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Story Source: Connecticut Post

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