“Grave and deteriorating” — that’s the assessment of the Iraq Study Group on the situation in Iraq. In its final report submitted to the White House, the bipartisan panel said the Bush administration’s policies have failed across the board. The panel called for a possible withdrawal of combat troops by 2008 but recommended tens of thousands remain for years to advise and train the Iraqi army.

Iraq Study Group co-chair and former Secretary of State James Baker: “We do not recommend a stay-the-course solution. In our opinion, that approach is no longer viable. While we do recommend a five-fold increase in U.S. forces training Iraqi troops, from—let’s say, from a high of 4,000 to a high of 20,000, we do not recommend increasing U.S. forces by in excess of 100,000 troops, as some have suggested.”