VARIOUS: People on the streets of Tehran and war-weary Baghdad react to Iraq Study Group recommendations, while Israel says it holds different views of those presented in the report

Many ordinary Iranian's believe that their nation may hold the key for the US to repair the situation in Iraq. That comes after the release of an Iraq report on Wednesday (November 6) by a bipartisan study group that urged the United States to withdraw its forces from Iraq and launch a fresh diplomatic effort with Iran and Syria. On Thursday (December 7) on the streets of Tehran many Iranian's said the US had got itself into a mess in Iraq and now would need Iran's help to clean up. However, some question whether working with the US was the right path for Iran to go down. "Iran is ready to help the Iraqi nation and government, but the American government is not honest to negotiate with Iran on Iraq," an Iranian member of parliament said. On Wednesday the bipartisan panel branded the situation in Iraq "grave and deteriorating" and urged US President George W. Bush to undertake a sharp U-turn by involving Iran and Syria - countries previously condemned as part of the "axis of evil" - in talks on its future. Current policy was not working and "staying the course" was no longer viable, said the commission, headed by former US Secretary of State James Baker. Bush has agreed reluctantly to join Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in a dialogue with Iran if Tehran first suspends uranium enrichment activities that Washington and its allies say are aimed at producing nuclear weapons. But the 10-member panel said the international support group should hold talks "without preconditions" and focus on Iraq, leaving the nuclear issue in the hands of the U.N. Security Council. The report accused Iran and Syria of stoking instability and violence in Iraq. If the situation deteriorates, Iran might be provoked to "send in troops to restore stability in southern Iraq and perhaps gain control of oil fields," the report said. It argued that incentives that could draw Iran and Syria into dialogue with the international support group included a vested interest in an Iraq that does not disintegrate and destabilise the region and a continuing U.S. role in preventing the Taliban from destabilising Afghanistan. Other incentives would be membership in international organisations like the World Trade Organization and the prospect for enhanced diplomatic relations with Washington, it said. Baker said it was unlikely Iran would embrace talks with the United States but added the US ought to put it to them, though, so that the world would see the rejectionist attitude that they are projecting by that action. Baker said of Syria that there were strong indications that they would be in a position and willing to help the US in Iraq. Meanwhile war-weary Iraqis welcomed on Thursday (December 7) the recommendations of Iraq Study Group as a step towards ending the U.S.. military presence in Iraq. "Recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton group are in the interests of the Iraqi people. Almost all the Iraqis believe that the U.S. forces are responsible for the deteriorating security situation in the country. If the U.S. forces pull out of our cities or fully withdraw from our country, we will be able to put under control the security situation and there will be no more terrorist acts as we will wipe out all the armed groups. We have more interest in our country than the Americans," said Abu Mohammed, a resident of Baghdad's Kerrada district. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton also urged Washington to reduce its political, military or economic support if Iraq's government failed to advance security and reconciliation in the country where, after almost four years of war, sectarian violence kills scores of people every day. "Baker group has both positive and negative sides. The positive sides include a call for a shift in the role of U.S. troops in Iraq to support from combat operations as a step for the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from of Iraq," said Iraqi citizen Karim al-Saadi. Underscoring the cost of the U.S. deployment, 10 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq on Wednesday in four incidents that included roadside bombs and combat. In Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on Thursday (December 6), ruled out any immediate talks with Syria and said he expected to come under little U.S. pressure despite a report urging Washington to push for Arab-Israeli peace as part of efforts to ease regional tensions. Recommendations from a high-profile report by the Iraq Study Group on Wednesday (December 6) included direct talks between Israel and Syria. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it was wrong to link the Arab-Israeli conflict with deepening woes in the Middle East, especially the crisis in Iraq. "This question is first and foremost an internal American question. I can say that in any efforts to find a linkage between the Iraq issue and the Middle East issue, we have a different opinion, and as far as I know President Bush, during the past few years, also had a different opinion regarding this issue," Olmert told editors and publishers at a conference in Tel Aviv. "What he will decide on the committee and the various areas, I don't know, but I can only say that the opinions that I heard from the president, and from all the senior administration staff, on the Syrian issue during the past days when we could already evaluate the direction coming up from the Baker report, are such that he did not see a feasibility in talks on the america-syrian track or on the Israeli-Syrian track. As I said, the decision will be taken by the president of the U.S. and I trust his judgement, his sense of responsibility and on his leadership," Olmert added. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group on Wednesday called for direct talks between Israel and Syria as part of a revived U.S. commitment to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace "on all fronts." "This commitment must include direct talks with, by and between Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians (those who accept Israel's right to exist), and Syria," the report said. The panel said the US would not achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it dealt directly with the Arab-Israeli. "There must be a renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts: Lebanon, Syria and President Bush's June 2002 commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine," it said. Under pressure to end an unpopular war that has killed more than 2,900 Americans and thousands of Iraqis, U.S. President George W. Bush said he would take the report "very seriously", but the White House has made clear he will not be bound by its conclusions and has begun its own review of Iraq policy.

ITN Source | December 7, 2006

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