Real World

James Baker on Iraq Troop Surge: 'Give It a Chance'

Wednesday, January 31, 2007



James Baker is co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group.

WASHINGTON — James Baker, the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, on Tuesday endorsed President Bush's troop surge in Iraq, urging the Senate to "give it a chance."

"The president's plan ought to be given a chance," Baker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Just give it a chance."

Baker, a former secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush, said it was wrong for the Senate to confirm Army Gen. David Petreaus to lead the new Iraq mission at the same time it was moving to pass non-binding resolutions opposing the deployment of at least 21,500 U.S. forces to improve security in Baghdad and Al Anbar Province. Some of those forces have already been deployed.

Baker also deflected criticism from Democratic senators that the president's new Iraq strategy lacked sufficient emphasis on diplomatic talks with Iran and Syria. Baker said the new plan envisions new diplomatic initiatives, though it does not include one of the ISG's chief recommendations: direct talks with Iran and Syria.

Baker's endorsement could well alter the political dynamic dealing with Senate debate on the president's new Iraq plan. Many critics have cited the ISG, which in November published 79 recommendations for getting the United States of Iraq successfully, as the basis for opposing the troop surge. References to the ISG's military and diplomatic recommendations are cited in both leading resolutions opposing the new Iraq plan.

The ISG's other co-chairman, former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, did not endorse the troop surge directly, but said the group did conditionally recommend a short-term troop surge and said the president's new plan and the overall recommendations depend on improvements pursued by the Iraqi government.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248738,00.html

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Holy Diver

Isn't this the same guy who suggested diplomacy and withdrawing troops?

and by the way....

What has this president done correctly to gain the trust of the american people?

I swear we are living in Bizzaro world.

wistahpatsfan

I agree.
I think Baker's been to Cheney's woodshed. He showed him the pictures of Baker in a French Maid costume getting spanked by Bosnian dwarfs in a room full of monkeys.
...It might have happenned........