Will the President Implement the Iraq Study Group Report?

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

By Jon Scott, Fox News Live

December 18, 2006

Jon Scott: Joining us now is Tim Roemer, former Indiana Congressman and former 9/11 Commissioner. Congressman Roemer, as you look at the report of the Iraq Study Group, obviously, Robert Gates a part of that group, what direction do you see him taking the Defense Department in that maybe Donald Rumsfeld might not have gone?

Tim Roemer: Well, his first three jobs, John, are big ones. One is on the Iraq issue; are you going to agree with the surge in policy, or are you going to take one of the other options, either put forwards by the Iraq Study Group or by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Two, how do you come up with a bi-partisan consensus on the long term war on global jihadism. And three, how do you rebuild the army and marine corps; something he said he was willing to entertain. The politics of this are such that one of his stated positions in the hearings was to negotiate or at least talk to Iran and Syria. And just in the last few days Secretary Rice said that’s not going to happen. So, the politics of this is already shaping up. For Secretary Gates, the difficult question is, how is he going to get the President’s ear? And is the President going to really change policy at all here?

Scott: Well, the President got pretty badly spanked in the last election. It would seem that a change in policy is something the White House is going to have to give some serious consideration to.

Roemer: You would think so. Given the election, the American people, I think, spoke about change on the Iraq policy and change on Capitol Hill. I also think a big part of this is, who are we listening to. Are we listening to President Bush-41’s advisors; people like Gates and Baker and Eagleburger, some of the people that comprised the Iraq Study Group, or is it going to continue to be the status quo. The people in the current Bush administration haven’t been as open to changing the status quo in Iraq. I think that’s a big, difficult problem for them.

Scott: Here’s the worry that I have sometimes though. I mean, I don’t like getting up and reading the headline in the paper that another 20 or 30 or 50 people have been killed by a car bomb in Iraq. The insurgents know that. As long as they can win this battle just by setting off car bombs, are we caving in too early?

Roemer: Well, if your remember what Osama bin Laden said, the event that radicalized bin Laden that he talks about was how the U.S. responded to the Lebanon attack when we lost 241 Marines. We have to stay committed but do the right thing in Iraq and change the course in Iraq. I hope the President will do that.

Scott: Thank you Congressman, good to talk to you.

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