Panel to urge US pullback in Iraq

The Iraq Study Group will recommend in its final report next week that U.S. forces begin a pullback next year, according to people close to the study panel, although the report lays out no specific schedule. Under the imprimatur of former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton, D-Ind., the document could have an enduring effect on the issue, experts and congressional leaders said. "I think history will view this as having consolidated the national debate on finding an exit strategy," said Larry Diamond, a Stanford University political scientist who was a U.S. adviser in Iraq and an adviser to the panel.

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