Two Panels Urgently Seek Iraq Solutions

[cal04]

Time Dwindles for Baker, Administration Groups

(snip)
Since President Bush ordered a rush review of Iraq plans Tuesday, top officials from the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA have huddled behind closed doors with deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch II to pull together ideas for the president to see when he gets back from Asia, officials said.

The independent Iraq Study Group, meanwhile, wrapped up its probe last week by interviewing former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright. It now begins the tough job of finding consensus among five Republicans and five Democrats to weld together recommendations.

A curtain has been drawn tightly around both efforts. But the difficulty in finding a way to salvage the most embattled U.S. policy since the Vietnam war is reflected in the fact that participants inside both reviews are still far from agreement -- with only a few weeks before their reports are due, according to sources familiar with both efforts.

(snip)
"It's not clear that there will still be time to fix Iraq by the time the options are delivered," said one expert who advised the Iraqi Study Group and served in Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/18/AR2006111800830.html

[annabanana]

1. Anyone taking odds that the "solution"

will involve the infusion of more troops?

Anyone doubt that the result will look just like it looks today, but with more people dead?