Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry has called on the Bush administration to follow suggestions made by the Iraq Study Group on the best way to move forward in Iraq.
In the Democrats' weekly radio address Saturday, Perry said the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq failed to get support from Iraq's regional neighbors and should not have disbanded the Iraqi army - leaving hundreds of thousands of young, armed men with nothing to do.
Perry was defense secretary under former President Bill Clinton. He echoed the Iraq Study Group's call for a change in mission. He said the United States should free up and re-set its ground forces, accelerate the training of the Iraqi army and police force, and set a goal of having all rapid-reaction forces out of Iraq by 2008.
The Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan panel commissioned by President Bush. It released its findings earlier this month.
Some information for this report provided by AP.