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This Is What We've Been Waiting For?The false premise of the Iraq Study Group Report.

By Shmuel RosnerPosted Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006, at 4:54 PM ET

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A U.S. administration official I spoke to a couple of days ago expressed anxiety that the report might create what he called a "false debate." He was proved right.

A public-opinion poll released today by the Program on International Policy Attitudes asked if "it is a good idea or bad idea for the US to have talks with Iran?" and got the most predictable answer: Seventy-five percent believed it to be "a good idea." Asking the same about Syria provided the exact same result.

The debate is indeed false, since it doesn't address the most probable outcome of the committee's recommendations: The Syrians will not cooperate, the U.N. Security Council will not convince the Iranians to give up on their nuclear program, and the Iraqi military will not be ready to assume power in the country. And then what?

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Shmuel Rosner, a columnist and editor based in Tel Aviv, blogs daily on Rosner's Domain.
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