Iraq:Senators have raised sharp questions about the Iraq Study Group's call for a dramatic change in the United States' military strategy in Iraq and for direct talks with Iran and Syria.
Questioning the group's co-chairs, former secretary of state James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton, some Republicans on the armed services committee called for an increase in US forces in Iraq rather than withdrawing combat troops by 2008, as the study group recommends.
Arizona's John McCain told Mr Hamilton and Mr Baker he did not believe their approach would work.
"There's only one thing worse than an over-stressed army and marine corps, and that's a defeated army and marine corps. I believe this is a recipe that will lead to our defeat sooner or later in Iraq," he said.
The Iraq Study Group recommends withdrawing all US combat brigades by early 2008, leaving only those combat forces needed to protect up to 20,000 US trainers embedded in Iraqi army units down to the level of platoons.
A number of senators were worried the proposal could leave US troops more exposed to attacks and possibly caught in the crossfire of a civil war.
Maine Republican Susan Collins said the proposal could amount to "an invitation to attack American troops".
Mr Hamilton acknowledged the risks involved but said increasing the number of American advisers in Iraqi units was the best idea the study group could find. "When you put these men into Iraqi units, they're very exposed. You do everything you can to protect them, but it's not risk-free," he said.
Independent Democrat Joseph Lieberman was among a number of senators who expressed scepticism about the group's recommendation that Iran and Syria should be involved in talks on Iraq's future. "I'm sceptical that it's realistic to think that Iran wants to help the United States succeed in Iraq," he said.
Mr Baker said that during the study group's discussions, an Iranian official told him Iran was not inclined to help, but he saw no harm in approaching Iran even if it declined. "Then we will hold them up to public scrutiny as the rejectionist state they have proven to be," he said.
Mr Hamilton said that although Iran had been unhelpful to US interests in Iraq, Tehran's biggest worry was that a chaotic Iraq would lead to a refugee crisis on its border. "We do not think it's in the Iranian interest for the American policy to fail completely and to lead to chaos in that country," he said.
Most senators broadly endorsed the group's report and Democrat Carl Levin, who will chair the armed services committee from next month, indicated the Senate could take up a resolution endorsing the report's general principles, if not all its particular recommendations.
"I think it's worth trying to get a bipartisan statement of support for the direction of this report," he said.
In a television interview yesterday, Mr Baker said he and the study group's members did not want their report to be interpreted as advocating a quick US military pull-out from Iraq.
"This report does not in any way call for a graceful exit. In fact, we specifically say we agree with the president's articulated goal. The report also makes clear: we're going to have a really robust American troop presence in Iraq and the region for a very long time."