Bush Says James Baker Can Go Back to His Day Job

Posted on December 7, 2006

James Baker has presented the Iraq Study Group's report to the White House and to the public. In fact, The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach is already a bestseller on Amazon.com and has gone into a second printing. No doubt everyone is curious to see what rabbit Baker is going to pull out of his hat to fix the mess that is Iraq. Now Baker and his Democratic Co-chair, Lee H. Hamilton, are lobbying Capitol Hill to get their recommendations implemented.

Along with a host of logical and practical recommendations, the report says that the U.S. needs to hold a regional conference with all the Arab nations (no Israel -- they're trying to end a war, not start another one) and re-start talks with Syria and Iran on a number of issues (you might recall that it was Baker who managed to convince Syria to join the coalition against Saddam Hussein in Gulf War I). In other words, no more going it alone. Iraq is dangerously close to being a failed state existing in utter anarchy and we need to do whatever it takes to stabilize the country now. If that means talking with the axis of evil (so we know what they're up to, if for no other reason), then so be it. The report also urges Congress not to be so timid in exercising its oversight duties -- in other words, quit being a rubber stamp for Bush's crazy concept of foreign policy.

And what was President Bush's reaction to this blunt approach of realpolitik? His spokesman said "James Baker can go back to his day job." And when a British reporter asked Bush to be candid about the fact that Iraq is essentially a disaster, Bush replied with the astounding statement that "I am disappointed by the pace of success."

If Iraq is what he defines as success, I'd hate to see what he defines as a failure.