Staying in Iraq 'no longer viable'

A stay the course strategy in Iraq is no longer viable, former US secretary of state James Baker, has said.

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As one of the co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group, he said: "We do not recommend a stay the course solution. In our opinion that approach is no longer viable," Baker told a news conference after the release of the group's report.

"We do recommend a five-fold increase in U.S. forces training Iraqi troops from let's say a high of 4,000 to a high of 20,000."

It is a complete repudiation of George Bush's Iraq policy.

The words are damning. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group - set up to chart the definitive way out of the mess that is Iraq today - concludes that the situation is "grave and deteriorating." Iraq is "sliding towards chaos."

A "humanitarian catastrophe" is inevitable unless there's an immediate change of course.

Led by James Baker, US Secretary of State under George Bush Senior, the ISG makes 79 recommendations.

And while it stops short of issuing a firm timetable for withdrawal, it says US combat troops could leave by 2008, with the US military shifting its aim to supporting and training the Iraqi army.

It also calls for a diplomatic consensus over Iraq - and in direct contradiction of President Bush's foreign policy - calls for the US to hold talks with Syria and Iran.

It also insists there can be no peace in Iraq without a serious push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian problem.

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