Panel to urge US talks with Syria, Iran: Times

Washington, Nov 27: A draft report prepared for an influential panel considering US alternatives for Iraq urges direct talks with Iran and Syria, but sets no schedule for troop withdrawal, The New York Times reported today.

The bipartisan commission, known as the Iraq Study Group, is likely to accept the report's diplomatic recommendations for US dialogue with Iraq's neighbours, Iran and Syria, the Times said, citing interviews with unidentified officials.

But the group may be split over setting timetables for American troop withdrawal, the newspaper said.

The draft will serve as a basis for discussions by the panel's ten members, led by former Secretary of State James Baker and Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, when they convene in Washington today. The meeting could extend beyond its two scheduled days, the Times said.

The group's long-anticipated report, preparation of which was reported well before Democrats' congressional election victories November 7, is expected to be presented to President George W Bush next month.

Bush, scheduled to begin a trip on Monday that includes a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan, is not bound to accept the group's recommendations. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Security Council are also working on similar studies.

But the panel is likely to command significant influence because of its bipartisan makeup and its co-chairmanship by Baker, a Republican who is very close to Bush's father and served in the elder Bush's administration.

Some Baker-Hamilton commission members are considering proposals to withdraw a significant number of US forces from Iraq as quickly as a year from now even if Iraq's own military is not ready to defend the country, the Times said.

Under one proposal, the size of the US force in Iraq, currently at 150,000, would be halved in a year, it said. The newspaper quoted one commission member as saying the group may not be able to reach a consensus on troop withdrawals.

Although the commission, an independent advisory group created at the suggestion of several members of Congress, has met several times to interview officials, this week's meeting will be its members' first opportunity to deliberate its recommendations, the newspaper said.

REUTERS