Baker agrees reluctantly to testify on Iraq (before Congress)

[sabra]

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/013007/baker.html

Baker agrees reluctantly to testify on Iraq

James A. Baker III, the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, has ended weeks of resistance and today will testify before Congress on the war, avoiding a split with his fellow co-chairman, former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.).

Sources familiar with the efforts to persuade Baker to testify said he did not want to appear to be lobbying against President Bush at the height of his push for 21,500 additional troops in Iraq.

Baker will answer senators’ questions today during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which includes three Democratic presidential hopefuls and Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), the chamber’s most forceful Republican critic of the war, who also is mulling a White House bid.

Opponents of Bush’s plan to send more troops are likely to ask Baker about the study group’s conclusion that “(s)ustained increases in U.S. troop levels would not solve the fundamental cause of violence in Iraq, which is the absence of national reconciliation.”

[msongs]

1. under oath? all the evils that reagan shared with saddam? hooray! nt

[gratuitous]

2. Well boo hoo, Jimmy

Maybe you shouldn't have taken the lead position on the Iraq Study Group? Or doesn't great responsibility go with great power any more? Your master must have signed another Executive Order, huh?

[flordehinojos]

3. reluctantly?

he will lie through his skull to provide cover for all of the bushes.

[Solly Mack]

4. Fuck asking him about the ISG - ask him about this:

When President Bush appointed former Secretary of State James Baker III as his envoy on Iraq's debt on December 5, 2003, he called Baker's job "a noble mission." At the time, there was widespread concern about whether Baker's extensive business dealings in the Middle East would compromise that mission, which is to meet with heads of state and persuade them to forgive the debts owed to them by Iraq. Of particular concern was his relationship with merchant bank and defense contractor the Carlyle Group, where Baker is senior counselor and an equity partner with an estimated $180 million stake.

Until now, there has been no concrete evidence that Baker's loyalties are split, or that his power as Special Presidential Envoy--an unpaid position--has been used to benefit any of his corporate clients or employers. But according to documents obtained by The Nation, that is precisely what has happened.



Bush special envoy embroiled in controversy over Iraq debt

[Demeter]

5. I Sense the Iron Fist of Congress In Nancy's Velvet Glove!

This calls for something more than popcorn--we're tailgating on the White House lawn!

I see that it's the Senate that called--well, who'd have thought Harry Reid had it in him?


January 30, 2007


Baker agrees reluctantly to testify on Iraq
By Alexander Bolton

James A. Baker III, the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, has ended weeks of resistance and today will testify before Congress on the war, avoiding a split with his fellow co-chairman, former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.).

Sources familiar with the efforts to persuade Baker to testify said he did not want to appear to be lobbying against President Bush at the height of his push for 21,500 additional troops in Iraq.

Baker will answer senators’ questions today during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which includes three Democratic presidential hopefuls and Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), the chamber’s most forceful Republican critic of the war, who also is mulling a White House bid.

Opponents of Bush’s plan to send more troops are likely to ask Baker about the study group’s conclusion that “sustained increases in U.S. troop levels would not solve the fundamental cause of violence in Iraq, which is the absence of national reconciliation.”

AND

While Baker wavered on whether to appear before the Senate, he did not reveal any second thoughts about skipping a request to testify in the House, where lawmakers are younger and have a reputation for being less decorous than their Senate counterparts.

“Baker really didn’t want to testify and felt like the report spoke for itself,” a policy assistant to Baker, John Williams, said. “But Hamilton wanted to testify before Congress.

AND

Williams also said that Baker only wanted to make one appearance before Congress.

“The fact is that he wanted to do one,” Williams said. “He didn’t want to come back and forth and back and forth, and the Senate worked with his schedule.”

TALK ABOUT A RELUCTANT WITNESS. HOPE THEY PUT HIM UNDER OATH.

WOULDN'T INDICTING BAKER BE A KICK? OF COURSE, TOO EARLY FOR THAT. THIS IS SEISMIC IN SCOPE!