Iraq Study Group Report = John Kerry Report ?

[sabra]

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061208/NEWS/612080612/1008/NEWS02

Report echoed Sen. Kerry’s warnings

Some of the recommendations from the Iraq Study Group sound especially familiar to U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., who campaigned on many of them when he ran for president two years ago.

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In an April 22 speech at Boston’s Faneuil Hall, Mr. Kerry said, “Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines — a deadline to transfer authority to a provisional government, and a deadline to hold three elections … And it will demand deadline toughness to rein in Shiite militias Sunnis say are committing horrific acts of torture every day in Baghdad. So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet.”

The report recommends pressuring Iraqi leaders to assume responsibility for their country’s security — another central Kerry theme that he touched upon in that same Boston speech:

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Speaking again at Faneuil Hall in September, Mr. Kerry said, “Our own generals have said Iraq cannot be solved militarily. Only through negotiation and diplomacy can you stem the growing civil war.”

The report emphasizes a regional approach, saying that Syria and Iran should be involved in ending the violence.

Mr. Kerry broached that suggestion in an April 2004 speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., three months before accepting the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency.