Bush envoy meets Sunni leader in Iraq (James Baker) [View All]

[ECH1969]

Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who heads an independent panel charged with taking a fresh look at U.S. policy in Iraq, met one of the most senior Sunni leaders in the Iraqi coalition government on Friday.

Baker held talks with Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie in his offices in the Green Zone government compound in Baghdad. Zobaie has been meeting Sunni tribal leaders as part of the government's efforts to defuse a bloody Sunni insurgency.

"James Baker was the engineer of U.S. foreign policy for many years. He has been sent by George Bush personally to find out the reality of what is happening in Iraq."

The White House said in March the Iraq Study Group would provide an independent look at the "way forward" in Iraq. Panel members have spoken little of their work on it. They include retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, former CIA director Robert Gates, former Attorney General Edwin Meese and former Defense Secretary William Perry.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/01/AR2006090100522.html