Saying “the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating,” a bipartisan commission on Wednesday urged stepped-up diplomatic and political efforts to stabilise that country, coupled with a shift in the mission of the American military to allow the United States to “begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly.”

This could allow all United States combat brigades “not necessary for force protection” to be out of Iraq by the first quarter of 2008, the Iraq Study Group’s report said.

The panel studying the war in Iraq presented its findings this morning to President Bush, who said he would take their ideas “very seriously” and act on them “in a timely fashion,” and then to Congressional leaders.

The report, by a 10-member commission headed by former Secretary of State James A Baker 3d and former Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana, urges a commitment by the United States to work with Iran, Syria and other nations to bring stability to the region.

“We do not recommend a stay-the-course solution,” Baker said pointedly at a question-answer session accompanying the report’s release. “In our opinion, that is no longer viable.” Those remarks were sure to be interpreted, at least by administration critics, as a rebuke to President Bush.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said the study group had done “a tremendous and historic service” by declaring that “there must be a change in Iraq, and there is no time to lose.”

But the White House could point to the commission’s refusal to advocate a quick withdrawal of American troops, an event that Hamilton said could touch off “a bloodbath” and a wider regional conflict.

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