Analysis: Some study recommendations run counter to Iraq's political reality

The Iraq Study Group

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The proposals made Wednesday by the Iraq Study Group would require many Iraqi politicians to abandon years of work and some of their most deeply held positions in an effort to bring an end to violence in the country.

Even then, success would be uncertain. Some of the group's recommendations already have been tried in Iraq, without positive results.

The U.S. already has spent billions trying to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, its ambassador has invested hours setting deadlines for the Iraqi government to take more control over its state and the militias are so emboldened that not even the top cleric here can rein them in.

Although the group's visits to Baghdad - exclusively in the heavily fortified Green Zone - were brief, the 142-page report's assessment of the situation here is sound. It correctly portrays the complexity of rivalries between Sunni and Shiite Muslims as well as among Shiites. It accurately pegs Iraq's security and economic difficulties and offers a refreshingly honest assessment of the country's army and police force.

But its proposals are short on how U.S. policymakers and their Iraqi counterparts might overcome the obstacles that have blocked progress.

The breadth of the panel's recommendations is daunting. Full implementation would mean reaching out to a staggering number of nations, from courting the United States' closest Arab allies - Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan - to sitting down with its most hostile enemies, Syria and Iran.

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