I say this because the text of the report itself makes it clear that the problems in both Iraq (and the Israeli-Pali conflict) are not military problems that can be solved with force, but rather political problems that have to be solved by negotiation and various carrot-stick routines. Furthermore the report also makes it clear that the US cannot amp up its force presence because it does not have the forces to do so.

Gradual retreat is therefore the implied, if unspoken, conclusion of the ISG.

Some of the recommendations will never take place. For example, it suggests that Syria might be talked into going along, and ceasing support for Hezbollah, and stopping the transit of its borders, and make peace with Israel, in return for the Golan Heights. But Israel will never give up the Golan Heights, it’s the means whereby they control the runoff into Lake Tiberias, and they need that water.