WP: Former Secretary of State Baker Leads Attempt to Salvage Iraq

[DeepModem Mom]

Called From Diplomatic Reserve
Former Secretary of State Leads Attempt to Salvage Iraq Mission
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page A23


Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, left, talks with former secretary of state James A. Baker III in August during a visit of the Iraq Study Group. The panel is seen as a glimmer of hope for U.S. Iraq policy. (By Daniel Berehulak -- Getty Images)

Is Jim Baker bailing out the Bushes once again?

The former secretary of state, James A. Baker III, a confidant of President George H.W. Bush, visited Baghdad two weeks ago to take a look at the vexing political and military situation. He was there as co-chairman of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, put together by top think tanks at the behest of Congress to come up with ideas about the way forward in Iraq.

The group has attracted little attention beyond foreign policy elites since its formation this year. But it is widely viewed within that small world as perhaps the last hope for a midcourse correction in a venture they generally agree has been a disaster.

The reason, by and large, is the involvement of Baker, 76, the legendary troubleshooter who remains close to the first President Bush and cordial with the second. Many policy experts think that if anyone can forge bipartisan consensus on a plan for extricating the United States from Iraq -- and then successfully pitch that plan to a president who has so far seemed impervious to outside pressure -- it is the man who put together the first Gulf War coalition, which evicted Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), who came up with the idea for the study group and pushed for its formation, said he thinks the administration is "waiting anxiously" for the group's recommendations. He cited the "impeccable credentials" of the 10-member group, which also includes former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, investment banker and Bill Clinton adviser Vernon E. Jordan Jr., and former White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta. The other co-chairman is the Democratic former Indiana congressman Lee H. Hamilton, who also co-chaired the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks....

***

Some are skeptical that the president will be open to advice seeming to come from one of his father's top advisers....The administration's more hawkish supporters, meanwhile, are nervous about Baker's involvement, counting him as one of the "realist" foreign policy proponents they see as having allowed threats against the United States to grow in the '80s and '90s....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600636.html

[saltpoint]

1. I thought Condi and Karen Hughes were taking care of this.

And if they aren't, what ARE they doing?

[Erika]

2. They don't quite make the grade. Just women.

W is calling in the big male "guns" What they're are doing is drawing huge salaries for being W loyalists.

[saltpoint]

9. Hi, Erika. Nice to see you. Yep -- Dubya does seem to rely on

mostly an all-boys club.

Even Condi seems to have come down in esteem lately.

Of course, that Middle East trip was kind of a disaster, but it wasn't all her fault, seems like to me.

Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld have to shoulder most of the blame.

[Erika]

16. Nice to see you.

W relies on daddy's male cronies. Always has. He made a few token women appointments, and then ignored them. You note how long his female appointee lasted as a nominee for the Supreme Court.

He called in James Baker to salvage his 2000 election. They know who can make the fixes.

[saltpoint]

23. Yep. I've heard many DUers, in fact, refer to Baker as "the Fixer."

Wow. What a reputation! It doesn't sound all that positive, does it!

[Drum]

33. Kind of reminds me of a character in "Pulp Fiction,"

was't it Harvey Keitel in the role? The Cleaner, The Janitor, something like that? Anybody?

I'll bet this has something to do with Bush The Father, the one bit of aid he'll be able to force W to take. Could Baker stare down Cheney? I wonder why Baker makes these cameo appearances when he does.

Thanks for mentioning this...more food for thought.

[lfairban]

41. "The Wolf"

Or "Mr. Wolf," according to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction

Good point.

[saltpoint]

47. Hi, Drum. I'm sorry -- I don't know the Keitel role... I like his work

generally and will try to track it down. I'll watch a film at the drop of a hat.

Yep. Ol' Jim Baker may be in there to protect the family's interests -- all those various and nefarious connections they've built up over the years both home and abroad.

I would never dismiss Baker out of hand, considering the Rolodex he must have at his disposal, but Junior has made a herculean mess out of things this time, and it's more complicated than buying off a coke dealer or a local cop at the drunk tank.

I may be underestimating Baker here, but I think he's got his work cut out for him in Iraq.

[htuttle]

52. The "Cleaner" was 'Victor the Cleaner" in La Femme Nikita (US vers), IIRC

He did things like dissolve inconvenient bodies in the bathtub with acid, etc...

Played by Jean Reno, it was a very similar character to "Leon" in the movie The Professional.

All of them remind me of James Baker III.

[Drum]

53. Thank you all!

I recall them now, Keitel and Reno in their respective roles. That's my Baker reference,
and sending gratitutde for your clarifications.
:toast:

[Zodiak]

60. Keitel played a "cleaner" in "Point of No Return"

His character was far more brutal than Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction.

[AnneD]

61. I think of him more as

the concillari of a Mafia Crime family. He'll go over there and make them an offer they can't refuse. He is so deep in the Carlyle Group. The leaders will roll over (as most corrupt MidEast leaders have) and the people will be screwed over. He might be able to pull a few strings but I don't think even Baker has a big enough shovel to scoop up Dubya's poo. I also remember Dubya really being rude or dissin Baker and his Dad some time ago about Iraq. Makes me wonder who has the power in the WH now. This can't be going over well with some folks there.

[saltpoint]

65. Hello, AnneD. Yes. You hit the target on several points. Who IS in

charge? Probably not Dubya himself, although he did dis daddy's pals a while back, Baker included, yet here's Baker.

What is so startling to me about this recent detainee/Geneva Convntions issue is that Dubya is risking a whole lot on something he could just as easily wait to do until after the midterms.

Someone in that White House must have known that this was a political hot potato and that it would be best to leave it until November 8th.

Unless their own polls show the House flipping, which would increase the likelihood of war crimes actions.

But that theory's just a theory, and I don't have the evidence to carry it much further than the first step.

Puzzlin' evidence, as they say.

[AnneD]

66. Old Crusoe...

WOW...those same thought have been going on in my mind. With this admin, you have to see what they are pushing FOR to see what they are into or afraid of. Why all this war crimes stuff???? This is SO odd to be pushing for this at THIS time. Voters won't come out for this issue. Their base is guns, God, and gays (and maybe immigration).

Either they know the House will flip or they are laying the groundwork for something far more nefarious. We still haven't heard much about those over run detention facilities that Haliburtion received a few billion to build. Wonder if we will start housing these detainees here in this country and they need a fig leaf to hide under.

FYI the Geneva convention has been very clear and we have NEVER EVER had a problem complying with it until this administration. There is another game afoot as far as I am concerned. Feel free to P-M me OC.

[saltpoint]

69. I'm not able to decipher this bunch at all. I wish I could. I can tell

from your post, AnneD, that you have a birdseye view on this caper, and I am envious of your ability to parse it out like that.

My limitation with Bush is the absence of language. Reagan, as far as I'm concerned, was a monstrously failed president, but his handlers at least figured out that if you stuck him in front of the Statue of Liberty in a white shirt, the matinee idol would be speaking into the hearts of sentimental voters.

With Bush, I don't see any of that at all. Rove is probably as underhanded as it gets, but no one in the president's inner circle now how to manipulate an image. And that is odd to me. Especially with someone like Dubya, who is in desperate need of some image manipulation.

For all the cowboy tough talk, I've never seen the little fool on a horse. Have you?

There's some disconnect between what was done to make Reagan look halfway sentient and what isn't being done to make Dubya persuasive.

[AndyTiedye]

35. If Baker's There, It's Because Poppy Called Him In

[Tin Man]

38. ISG created by Congress, not the Executive

Bush43 had nothing to do with it. It's pretty clear in the article.

[silvermachine]

67. I dunno...

...might want to run some kind of test on Hughes. She seems more dinosaur to me than anything else.

[struggle4progress]

10. Condi's job is to talk everybody to death when questions arise

Karen's job is to win over world public opinion, using the assumption that most people think like the particular Texans she happens to knos.

[saltpoint]

15. That sounds right to me. I like your assessment of Hughes imagining

that pert near everybody is just like the folks at her country club back in Texas.

No wonder Bush's foreign policy is reeling!

[LeighAnn]

28. Favorite Karen Hughes Pic

BTW, I complained to the reporter of that story, as well as the ombudsman of the Washington Post, about why that story didn't mention James Baker's involvement with The Carlyle Group. That's wrong.

[saltpoint]

29. And to think guys get frothed over Paris Hilton!

That IS a great photo.

It's a photo that just has Republican Family Values written all over it.

[silvermachine]

68. Well, I WAS planning on having lunch...

...in a few minutes. Now, I'm not so sure. About anything.

[Erika]

17. You remember how the young Turkish women scoffed at Karen

when she suggested she knew the lifestyle that would best suit them. What an arrogant and ignorant woman.

But Karen is hauling in the big salary for zero or less than zero results. Paid for by us.

[struggle4progress]

26. I'm sure Karen was completely surprised by the reaction.

[jaysunb]

54. Neither are qualified

There are plenty other women who'd be much better suited for this.
Madeline Albright immediately comes to mind.

[saltpoint]

55. Yes. I'd take Albright over those other two put together.

[Erika]

3. Oh, the GOP are going to form a "study group" on Iraq

A touch late, the bast---- should have had a post occupation plan in force over three years ago.

Better yet, we should have never gone to Iraq.

[rodeodance]

8. already formed several months ago and Baker has spent time in Iraq-

something big is up.

[Erika]

19. It isn't W's penis

I've had a really tough day but I enjoyed the remark.

[LeighAnn]

27. Eeewwww!

I'd never thought about Bush having a penis. Yuck! How can Laura stand it? Or Jeff Gannon or whatever? Even all those times I pictured him with Jeff Gannon, I never really thought about "it". :puke:

[havocmom]

50. Big indeed. And it isn't Poppy that sends Baker anyplace

It's Poppy's bosses that send Baker.

GOP bosses getting anxious enough to pull the troops? When it comes down to Cheney's neck or his pals' profits, what is the line? Cheney's neck is getting close to a noose. ALL HELL must be breaking loose in the bunker.

More than just the front men for the junta will go down if the DEMS take the Hill. They already chose to part with some of the obscene oil profits to try and buy this election close enough to steal.

If someone calls you and asks how you're gonna vote, tell them: GOP all the way! Let them think the numbers are closer than they really are.
:evilgrin:

[warrens]

59. Or, the fix is in

Some meaningless boondoggle timed for, oh, late October that will imply a solution is at hand. I really fucking hate Repukes, have I mentioned that before?

[hippiechick]

4. One of the most evil motherflubbers on the planet ...

... right up there with ol' Uncle Dick.

:puke:

[havocmom]

51. Ucna Dick is Baker's employee & Dick is indebted way deep to him

That was Baker's brother-in-law Cheney shot in the face and didn't get prosecuted for.

[Botany]

5. Guess Engineer W has had a little train problem

Come on Jim, use that magic you did to keep the vote in
Florida from being counted.

[LibDemAlways]

6. There isn't anyone on the planet who can fix the

situation in Iraq. Just another in a series of failed Bush business ventures. Unfortunately, this time, the damage is incalculable and irreparable.

[soothsayer]

13. Bring back saddam!

[gratuitous]

7. How is bribery and corruption going to solve Iraq's problems?

Can you bribe a bomb? That's Baker's forte; corruption of the system.

And . . . can you imagine the hue and cry from the Repressive Right if a Democratic administration was forming a study group to solve the chaos in Iraq? There'd be ad after ad, rant after rant all over the radio dial and on every cable channel about the touchy-feely Democrats and how real manly he-men like the Republicans wouldn't be studying things; they'd by God be taking action, baby.

Instead, we're treated to palaver about "impeccable credentials" and "legendary troubleshooting." Is the GOP going all soft and squishy?

[seafan]

36. LOL, I couldn't sleep, shuffled over here and saw your post. Dang,

now I'm giggling so much, I gotta stay up!

Your comments are maddeningly true.


When they call out The Consigliere, there's some nasty $#^& going on behind the scenes. Saw this right here in Florida in 2000.

[calimary]

11. JEEZ, this part kills me...

"The administration's more hawkish supporters, meanwhile, are nervous about Baker's involvement, counting him as one of the "realist" foreign policy proponents they see as having allowed threats against the United States to grow in the '80s and '90s...."

They don't like Baker because he's a "realist" foreign policyh proponent? They don't like "realists"? Oh yeah. I forgot. These are the quacks who think they're making their "own reality." A "faith-based reality," I presume.

:eyes:

[tyne]

14. ahhhh

Jim Baker is our October surprise...

Count on it.

[calimary]

30. Hey, stranger things have happened. They don't call him "The Fixer"

for nothing.

[grytpype]

12. Oh, I'll bet Dubya is just loving this...

... Dad is sending his lieutenant to bail his failed ass out of another failure.

That's gotta sting.

On edit: the article says "remains close to the first President Bush and cordial with the second."

Cordial. That's one way to put it. Another way would be "Little Lord Pissypants doesn't like some know-it-all guy sent by Dad to clean up his messes, it makes him look like a failure."

If Bush resigns, it will be because Baker tells him he has to go.

[Erika]

18. He's done it since Day 1 n/t

[janx]

20. YES.

His dad's friends have been bailing him out for a long, long time.

[sandnsea]

21. Sounds like an "envoy"

"Instead of demeaning diplomacy, I will restore diplomacy as a tool of the strong, and enlist expert and thoughtful Americans of both parties as envoys to carry a new American message around the world. I believe there's an unparalleled opportunity to draw on the experience of statesmen of both parties who can help us to advance the ball. And it has always been stunning to me that so many presidents always want to reinvent the wheel and turn their back on those who’ve been there before."

Dec 2003

http://www.cfr.org/publication.html?id=6576

Not that I expect Bush to take a good idea and actually make it work.

[bvar22]

22. Daddy's friends won't be able to help junior*

junior* and the Repubs have gotten things SOOO screwd up that even Daddy's Friends won't be able to help.
The Democrats WON WorldWar 2 in less time than junior* and the Repubs have been looking for Osama!

Junior's legacy:

Corruption
Cronyism
Death
Destruction

Not a pretty sight.

[Generic Brad]

24. He can't bail out a sinking ship

I remember when he was brought in to help gloss over the fact that Cheney had just shot a man in the face. Too bad that didn't work out so well either. Every time I see the vice president I think "Didn't he shoot a man in the face?"

Baker has his work cut out for him.

[daleo]

25. Helping Bush steal the 2000 election was child's work

Compared to "fixing" Iraq. It is just more hubris.

[Supersedeas]

58. An unabashed symbol of a divided America attempts to unite Iraq???

[ryanmuegge]

31. Oh, Baker's involvment is NOTHING new (link)

http://www.gregpalast.com/the-best-thing-in-the-world-for-big-oil#more-1468

[Tin Man]

39. Also discussed at DU during August

link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2797982

[ryanmuegge]

43. Actually, the content of the link provided ISN'T covered in that thread

The subject's link and the one you provided cover Bush consulting Baker and others to try to fix the war. The link I provided shows how Baker was involved in STARTING the war (being part of Cheney's energy task force and so on). Highly different content.

[Tin Man]

45. Sorry, shoulda directed my reply to the OP - the WaPo story is VERY close

to the Washington Monthly article from August.

[calimary]

63. That is mind-blowing. But still, not surprising, either.

Interesting that whereever you find fishy stuff going on at the pinnacle of big government AND big business, you'll more likely than not find James Baker there, too. They don't call him "The Fixer" for nothing.

[WCGreen]

32. impeccable credentials my ass......

This bastard set in motion the disaster when they appointed some political hack as the Bush contact in Iraq back in 1989...

She was the one who gave a non response to Saddam when he brought up the idea of invading Kuwait because they were using directional drilling to tap into Iraqi oil fields...

Saddam could always say, "April said it was Okay..."

They did nothing until Saddam rolled into Kuwait and the Saudi's were suddenly all up in arms about Saddam and his plan to take over the region...

Well, all of a sudden, Saddam became public enemy number one....

Then Baker pulled together a coalition that was fairly easy to do since invading another country can be used as a legitamate reason for going to war....

It was Baker and Powell who stopped the invasion after 100 hours and left Saddam in power...

"Cause they owed him that much" I guess was their reasoning (Remember Rummey and Saddam yacking it up in that now infamous pic)...

After all he was Reagan and Baker who urged Saddam to invade Iran...

Oh Well, he sure knows how to fix things...

And don't get me started on Rudi...

Oh dear god help us if that ass whip gets anywhere near a crisis...

[psychopomp]

34. You are quite right about Baker

I guess there is money to be made and Baker will make sure that the cash spigot remains open to all the regulars at the trough.

[PerceptionManagement]

37. Salvage = Make sure Poppy has stolen all the money that can be gotten

[MasonJar]

40. Baker, the idiot who "stole" (his own words) the 2000 election for

W and set up all this carnage, can just go flush himself down the commode with all the other detritus.

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nickster]

44. Well look at that, yet another way for Dubya to create foreign policy

without any kind of Congressional oversight. So who does Baker report to? Who gets to question Baker about what he's found? Does Baker get to make policy decisions that will then be but into action without any Congressional input? Will Congress just pass laws based on what Baker said because Dubya says so?

[cyberpj]

46. at the behest of Congress to come up with ideas

Because we can't trust our own military leaders to know what to do?

This is just totally bizarre.

They get us into it but are too stupid to know how to end it so we have to hire consultants?!

What a sorry Nation are we.

[Javaman]

48. Iraq = Frankenstein nation...

a new hand there, a bit of leg there, a bolt in a neck, a little lightening to bring it to life, and voila! Frankenstein nation.

However, if you recall the book or the movie, we all know what happens to Frankenstein in the end. the people rose up and killed it.

hmmmmmm....

[stepnw1f]

49. Ahhh.. Another Fascist Sociopath (nt)

[Ninten12]

56. I was wondering when he would re-appear

After all, this facist bastard is the one apparently representing the Saudis in the lawsuit filed against them by families of the victims of the events of September 11, 2001.

You would of course be an idiot to not know why Dubya and his kkkreepy kkkrew are anxious to exonerate their terrorist financiers.

[Strawman]

57. to concoct some new pseudo-rationale for this pissing contest

That's what our involvement in Iraq amounts to: a pissing contest for purely political reasons.

Can't leave now because "real 'murikan" men (and the types of women who enable them) don't like the idea of all those "Ay-rabs" thinkin' we're "pussies." If our young men and women and Iraqi's have to keep right on dying to prop up these guys' feelings of manliness, well that's a-ok with them. Nobody wants to be the politician that disturbs this little fantasy. There's no future in that.

[LeftHander]

62. Baker = "Bush" failure....

Baker has been cleaning up after Bush's for decades.

If he is there it is becasue the situation has gotten out of hand.

[Solly Mack]

64. Baker's never been far away...from Iraq or Bush. Timeline

Baker/Bush Administration Timeline 2000-2006
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Solly%20Mack/80