Iraq study group ‘almost saw fist fights’

The Iraq Study Group’s members found it so hard to agree on their recommendations to US President George W Bush that they almost came to blows, its co-chairman has reportedly revealed.

Former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton apparently told the council and board of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars that discussions on how to deal with violence in the war-torn country were so contentious he sometimes doubted the bipartisan panel would be able complete its report.

A source told the New York Daily News: “Lee said there were almost fist fights. It happened several times.”

Mr Hamilton was also said to have told members of the Woodrow Wilson centre, of which he is president, that the most divisive issue was whether to include Iran and Syria in a diplomatic coalition of countries surrounding Iraq.

The ISG unveiled its report in December. It backed withdrawing most US troops by 2008 and told the Bush administration it must “engage constructively” with Iran and Syria.

But many of its recommendations seem to have gone unheeded by the US, which is sending 21,500 extra troops to Iraq.