Leaders of Iraq panel defend their call for diplomatic push
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WASHINGTON -- Leaders of a bipartisan panel on Iraq sought to deflect criticism yesterday that their new war strategy endorses defeat, saying the Bush administration must push Mideast diplomacy or face "major-league problems."
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UNITED NATIONS - Iraq urged regional and world powers yesterday to back an expanded United Nations role in Iraq, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said there was more to be done on security before he could increase UN staff.
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Despite an overwhelming House vote last month to revive the Iraq Study Group, the White House has blocked reconvening the bipartisan panel to provide a second independent assessment of the military and political situation in Iraq, said several sources involved in the panel's December 2006 report.
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The Iraq Study Group is urging Washington to push for direct contacts with two key Shiite clerics who have made clear they want nothing to do with the United States.
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Iraqi leaders are no less divided than America's when it comes to the way forward in Iraq, with sharp disagreements emerging on key issues &#151; especially the idea of "surging" or increasing U.S. troops in Baghdad in the short term.
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The meeting with one of IraqÂs most powerful Shiite leaders was part of an effort to reach out to a wider circle of Iraqi politicians.
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Steady condemnation from conservatives for the Iraq Study Group report may be providing some cover to the Bush administration as it completes its own review of strategy in Iraq, apparently with little enthusiasm for the panel's prescription of U.S. troop withdrawal and dialogue with Syria and Iran.
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BAGHDAD -- Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, yesterday rejected suggestions that an international conference be held to address the violence wracking his country, echoing sentiments expressed by other leading politicians in the war-torn country.
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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt  - The world&#39;s top diplomats joined Iraq&#39;s neighbours on the second day of a conference in this Red Sea resort aimed at endorsing a political path out of the violence sweeping the country.
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Iraq's president on Sunday rejected suggestions that an international conference be held to address the violence wracking his country, echoing sentiments expressed by other leading politicians.
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BAGHDAD, Dec. 5--Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki on Tuesday called for a regional conference on stabilizing his country but rejected U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposal that such a discussion take place outside of Iraq.
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U.S. and Iraqi officials are questioning if Nuri Kamal al-Maliki can keep Iraq from descending into civil war.
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The United States should begin to withdraw forces from combat and launch a diplomatic push, including with Iran and Syria, to prevent "a slide toward chaos" in Iraq, an elite panel recommended on Wednesday.
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Congressional leaders of both parties today welcomed the report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group as a chance to build a national consensus over how to proceed in a conflict that has claimed almost 2,900 American lives, cost $400 billion and shows no signs of abating.
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Iraq urged regional and world powers on Saturday to back an expanded U.N. role in Iraq but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said there was more to be done on security before he could increase U.N. staff.
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The United States, Iran and Iraq have agreed to set up a security subcommittee to carry forward talks on restoring stability in Iraq, the U.S. envoy said Tuesday at the end of a second round of groundbreaking talks with his Iranian counterpart.
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BAGHDAD, Dec. 10 -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Sunday strongly rejected a bipartisan U.S. panel's report on U.S. war strategy in Iraq, calling some of its recommendations "dangerous" and a threat to his country's sovereignty.