On the December 10 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume falsely characterized the Iraq Study Group's report as a “stay-the-course document” that “did not reject the president's policy on Iraq,” and said its only recommendations for change were “at the margins.” In fact, the report issued by the ISG specifically states that "[c]urrent U.S. policy is not working, as the level of violence in Iraq is rising and the government is not advancing national reconciliation," and adds that "[m]aking no changes in policy would simply delay the day of reckoning at a high cost."

Additionally, as Media Matters for America has noted, the ISG's recommendations run counter to President Bush's policies and assumptions regarding U.S. troop presence in Iraq. When asked at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about the report's recommendation that most U.S. combat divisions be withdrawn from Iraq by early 2008, President Bush claimed that “the report said” that withdrawal would be “depending upon conditions” and added that “commanders will be making recommendations based upon whether or not we're achieving our stated objective.” Indeed, while the ISG report does include the qualification that its proposals are “subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground,” it also clearly recommends that "[i]f the Iraqi government does not make substantial progress toward the achievement of milestones on national reconciliation, security, and governance, the United States should reduce its political, military, or economic support for the Iraqi government." The Bush administration's policy has assumed that U.S. support, including troop presence, will continue until conditions improve, but the ISG report, on the contrary, recommends that U.S. “political, military, or economic support” should be reduced unless conditions improve.

From the December 10 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:

CHRIS WALLACE (host): Well, the president has set himself quite a deadline. He's got the Iraq Study Group report right here. He's going to hear from the Pentagon and the State Department this week. He plans to address the nation some time next week and announce his new strategy for Iraq. Brit, from your reporting, what do you expect him to say?

HUME: Well, it's not clear what he will say, but let's just pause for a moment to reflect on what the Iraq Study Group said and did not say.

For one thing, contrary to some pretty wild misreporting this week, it did not reject the president's policy on Iraq. And in fact, it accepted, with no change, his goals there. And these recommendations taken as a whole and looked at in any context -- this is a stay-the-course document. These recommendations are at the margins -- acceleration of the training. Well, everybody's been trying to do that for two years. This recommends one way possibly to do that.

Everyone in this whole administration has said for the longest time that as the Iraqis stand up, we stand down. The problem has been to get them to stand up and to take on a role that some, like Senator [John] McCain [R-AZ], believe at this point can only be served by U.S. troops.

That's the real debate here, and they have left that debate alone. They really didn't engage in it. They didn't take seriously really, in any way, the recommendation that there be a bigger American force to suppress the insurgency and perhaps then set the terms for all these other objectives that we're trying to achieve there. And having --

WALLACE: So you're also saying that they didn't take seriously the idea of pulling troops out.

HUME: Well, that's true, they didn't -- immediately. But the document is all about how to get troops out. Now, it is not inconsistent with what the administration has said, but there's a real debate to be had here. They simply didn't take part in it.