Congressmen Urge President to Reconstitute ISG

Press Release

Today Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), and Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) sent a letter to President Bush urging him to move to reconstitute the Iraq Study Group, following a House vote of support last week.

The House voted 355-69 last week for an amendment offered by Rep. Christopher Shays to provide $1 million to the U.S. Institute of Peace for the purposes of reestablishing the ISG. The ISG would focus on evaluating conditions in Iraq one year later, comparing its findings to those of a year ago, and reviewing and updating its recommendations. The Members asked for presidential action because the Foreign Operations appropriations bill - in which the amendment is included - is unlikely to be signed into law quickly enough for a newly constituted ISG to report in the fall.

Earlier this month, the five members led in introducing legislation, H.R. 2574, to implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group as the way forward in dealing with the war in Iraq. There are now 57 bipartisan cosponsors of the bill.

"The best way to end this war is for Democrats and Republicans to work together to change the course in Iraq. Many of us welcomed the ISG's recommendations when the report was first released last year, and many of us believe that the report still provides a comprehensive blueprint for a way forward in Iraq and the Middle East, from both the military and the diplomatic perspective. Bringing together again the bipartisan members of the ISG to update the report will give Congress and the American people an independent perspective to compare to the Administration's report due in September," said Representative Udall.

"The Bush Administration has nothing to lose by reconstituting the ISG. In fact, it has everything to gain," said Wolf, who was instrumental in the creation of the commission. "Everyone wants to see an end to the violence in Iraq. Everyone also wants to win the war on terror. Having the ISG go back and provide another independent, bipartisan assessment will take out the venom that is so present in some of the debate."

"Last fall, the Iraq Study Group provided Congress a thoughtful assessment on one of the most important issues of our time," stated Shays. "As we approach another crossroad in this conflict, having that insight again will be invaluable."

"The recommendations formed by the Iraq Study Group are keys to achieving victory in Iraq. In the past, votes in Congress towards that goal, have largely fallen along party lines to no legislative end. Meanwhile, Americans have grown increasingly frustrated with the situation in Iraq and by what they see as partisan gridlock. Putting politics first when fighting a war is simply unacceptable. This bill takes the politics out of the war and sends a clear message to the President that the Iraq Study Group's recommendations have the backing of the vast majority of Americans and should be implemented immediately," stated McCaul.

"The ISG provides a way to break through the partisan gridlock on Iraq and it should be reconvened to provide a new, independent assessment of the current situation," said Lipinski. "But America must not continue the current course until the new report. The ISG has already provided thoughtful recommendations on how we can move toward successfully concluding the war and bringing our troops home, and we should start implementing those immediately."

The ISG was created in March 2006 at the request of a bipartisan group of members of Congress, led by Rep. Wolf, and was co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Lee Hamilton. In December 2006, the ISG released its recommendations and outlined a bipartisan approach to bringing a responsible conclusion to the Iraq war.