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Summary:
Operation Iraqi Freedom overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime, but Iraq remains unstable because of Sunni Arab resentment and a related insurgency, compounded by Sunni-Shiite violence that a January 2007 national intelligence estimate (NIE) says has key elements of a "civil war." Mounting U.S. casualties and financial costs -- without clear improvements in levels of violence -- have intensified a debate within the United States over whether to wind down U.S. involvement without completely accomplishing initial U.S. goals. U.S. Defense Department reports, the December 6, 2006, report of the Iraq Study Group, and the NIE express pessimism about security in Iraq, although U.S. officials say the 2007 Baghdad security plan is producing some reduction of sectarian violence. In an effort to counter these trends, President Bush addressed the nation on new initiatives in Iraq on January 10, 2007 and announced a deployment of at least an additional 21,500 U.S. combat forces to help stabilize Baghdad and restive Anbar Province, as well as other measures to create jobs and promote political reconciliation. He and other officials have asserted that the new security plan would build on important successes: two elections (January and December 2005) that chose an interim and then a full-term parliament and government; a referendum that adopted a permanent constitution (October 15, 2005); progress in building Iraq's security forces; and economic growth. While continuing to build, equip, and train Iraqi security units, the Administration has worked to include more Sunni Arabs in the power structure, particularly the security institutions. Some in Congress -- as well as the Iraq Study Group -- believe that the United States should begin winding down U.S. combat involvement in Iraq. A House resolution adopted on February 16, 2007, opposed the sending of additional forces. On two occasions in February, the Senate did not invoke cloture to vote on similar measures (S.Con.Res. 2 and S. 574, respectively). On March 23, 2007, the House passed a binding amendment to an FY2007 supplemental appropriation request (H.R. 1591) that would set a September 1, 2008, deadline for U.S. combat withdrawal -- or sooner, depending on Iraqi progress on reconciliation. The Senate version (S. 965) would set March 1, 2008 as a non-binding goal for U.S. combat withdrawal. Other bills support the Iraq Study Group's recommendation for intensified regional diplomacy to enlist help from neighboring states to calm their protege factions in Iraq. This is a step the Administration has begun to take by participating in a March 10 meeting in Baghdad involving Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria. This report is updated regularly. See also CRS Report RS21968, Iraq: Elections, Government, and Constitution, by Kenneth Katzman; CRS Report RL31833, Iraq: Recent Developments in Reconstruction Assistance, by Curt Tarnoff; CRS Report RL31701, Iraq: U.S. Military Operations, by Steve Bowman; and CRS Report RL33793, Iraq: Regional Perspectives and U.S. Policy, coordinated by Christopher Blanchard.
