Baker, Bush Family Fixer, Will Advise President on Iraq

[Rose Siding]

snip>
Mr. Baker, a longtime confidant of the first President Bush who has maintained a close but complicated relationship with the current president, plans to travel to Baghdad and the region to meet with heads of state on a fact-finding mission that officials say was encouraged by both father and son and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"If you had a health problem, you'd want somebody to give you a second opinion," said Representative Frank R. Wolf, an influential Virginia Republican who helped recruit Mr. Baker for the job. "What the United States needs on Iraq is some fresh ideas from people able to speak out, and no one is more qualified to do that than Jim Baker."

The options that might be available at a time of rapid developments in Iraq, including the moves on Saturday toward establishing the country's first permanent, post-invasion government, are unclear. An official involved in enlisting Mr. Baker, who was granted anonymity because Mr. Baker has asked those associated with the effort not to speak to the press, said it would be a mistake to think that he could find a silver bullet.

"How Baker comes at this will be crucial," the official said. "He's a very shrewd fellow who doesn't want to be window dressing. He could come up with nothing or it could be a very big deal. To my mind, Dean Acheson and Lyndon Johnson is the model."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/world/middleeast/24baker.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

There's the standard: Vietnam comparisons are ok if you're an administration official looking for a "second opinion".

[graywarrior]

1. Oh, what a relief!

Geezus

[YDogg]

2. I thought he died?

[C_U_L8R]

3. If that's not a cry for help

I don't know what is.....
Jr Bush just screamed out for Poppy .... or is it Mommy ??

[OldLeftieLawyer]

4. Never underestimate Jim Baker

He is, after all, the man who put Fuckface in office.

Watch him.

He's a rattlesnake who will bite even after he's dead. And it won't redound to our benefit, believe me.

[saltpoint]

8. Your likening Jim Baker to a rattlesnake is perhaps too charitable.

I know for a fact you have a genuinely good heart, and I appreciate your kindness shown here to Mr. Baker, despite the bottomless evil that pervades his thinking.
_ _ _ _

Your admonition that we should not underestimate him is exactly right. He dug up every drug-stupored stoolie in the whole of the Everglades to throw the Florida vote toward Dubya.

Ya nailed it again, Old Leftie Lawyer. I'm glad you're on our side and not theirs.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

19. Good morning, my hero

Indeed. Restraint sometimes overcomes me - especially in the evenings - and I withhold my most thoughtful vitriol from people like Baker.

Did you know that one of those rampagers who stormed the recount and made them stop has recently - within the past couple of weeks - been given a plum White House job? I'm not sure of his name, but the first name "Todd" springs to mind early this a.m. How's THAT for blatant?

They don't have a side, honey, and they know it. Only we do.

If Fuckface had to call upon Baker, do you know how BAD it is? I don't think even we can grasp it.

Tuesday. Let us go forth and rock'n'roll, my sweet..............

[saltpoint]

21. Ah. There's lots of good treasure to be found on this weary earth,

but two gems that must never be discounted are someone who is an accomplished citizen and someone who writes beautifully.

This post is a response to just such a person.

You've got to be right on their calling in Baker. For him to be there, there would have to be feral animals gnawing the furniture in the East Room. He'll be right at home.

And a Happy Tuesday right back.

:hi:

[cliss]

10. On the other hand,

if this creep helped put "Einstein" in the Oval Office, I bet he's regretting it today.

Sheesh. Shrewd? Convince me. This guy is not shrewd. He's an idiot. An idiot who thought it would work.

Well it didn't, and now Baker is coming to the rescue.

[saltpoint]

11. But who asked him to saddle up, is one question. Baker was Poppy's

fixer first and foremost. I thought Junior kind of wanted Poppy and his cohorts out of the picture.

There was talk that Dubya wanted to show the old man how to run a war. We know now that things haven't worked out quite as planned.

And the Baker fix is being written up as a rescue.

What I'm wondering is whether Dubya was forced to ask for help, such as it is, or whether he did it on his own accord (somehow seems unlikely, but I don't "know"), or if the Baker idea was imposed by Warner/Lugar/etc. -- GOP stalwarts who finally told Bush, "Look, you little prick, if you want even ONE bill to make it out of our committees, you better do SOMETHING to improve the party's chances on Nov. 7th."

[cliss]

14. Yes, good point Crusoe.

I'm wondering the same thing - did Bush start asking for help? Or did Poppy volunteer it?

Either way, strange things are happening in Washington..

[saltpoint]

22. I'd somehow like Dubya's poll numbers to keep tanking but not at

the expense of human beings here and in Iraq, etc.

I'm not sure how to work a miracle like that, but damn it, I'm working on it.

[grasswire]

25. for the answer to your question...

...consider this: what is Baker's standing with Cheney-Rumsfeld, the real masters of Iraq? Baker has already been working in Iraq, appointed to various tasks that had economic components. That would indicate he is in league with Cheney, or at least okayed by him. And since Baker is joined to the Bushes at the hip, I guess we can surmise the whole operation is still about do-re-me.

Oh, let's not forget Baker's ties to the Saudis. Is he doing their business, too, as overseer of Iraq policy?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

20. You obviously don't know Jim Baker

"Idiot" is the last designation any informed, sentiient person would use to describe him.

Go read up on him and find out what a political genius he is and has been for years.

Baker's a dangerous, dangerous man to people like us, and you should know about him. Otherwise, you're vastly underestimating him, and, by calling him names like you just did, displaying the kind of ignorance of history and facts that'll sink us yet again come the next elections.

Remember what Georges Santayana, a very wise man, said a long time ago (and he's been proven right far too many times):

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

James Baker. Lawyer from Houston. Find out about him, and then see if you still want to call him silly names or do you want to try to figure out what he's going to do next that's going to affect our country?

[cliss]

26. I know plenty about James Baker.

I know that he has been, and still continues to some extent, to play behind the scenes. He was instrumental in getting Bush selected in 2000.

But it doesn't matter how smart he is, how cunning or how ruthless. Look at the end product.

Let's take a look at those people he "vetted": Cheney. This man has been known for years around Washington as the "Curse of Cheney". He has a history of colossal failures, tainted people who he worked with, and managed to screw up a lot of things. This is no success. I've read he suffers from a form of autism.

#2: Rumsfailed. Now THERE's a winner for you. He has managed to rough-ride the Pentagon and run it into the ground. Whoa....and that takes some doing. But he did it.

#3: Bush. There's the Grand Prize winner of them all. No further comment needed.

Mr. Baker is just a typical back-scratcher. A crony who does crooked deals with people he knows. But the problem is, if you've got shitty materials to begin with, the whole project is suspect.

So I still call him: idiot.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

27. No, it's obvious you don't

Jim Baker is a power, and if you're not informed about him, the destruction his work will rain down on you will be a big surprise for you.

You really should find out about him. He's got a vast history. In his own way, he's quite fascinating.

Namecalling is a real sign of intelligence. Especially when you go on to make it obvious that you haven't any knowledge. Don't do that. I bet you're better than that.

[Ecumenist]

5. All the second opinions in the world

Wouldn't change the diagnosis of of a terminal condition. Good luck, Mr Baker...

[Demeter]

6. Poppy Taking Over? Or the Overlords, Maybe?

Somehow I don't think Dubya asked for help....the press release came from outside the misAdministration.

I think this is a Hail Mary pass, and too little, too late for the GOP, Iraq, and the World. There will be a turnover, and a renewal, but none of the current players will have any part, other than that of criminal responsibility.

[Olney Blue]

7. The Fixer

[saltpoint]

9. Does anybody have an insight about this? I thought Junior eschewed

advice from Daddy's inner circle. Wasn't that why Brent Scowcroft wrote the piece in the NYTimes in the months prior to the Iraq bombing -- because it was the only way to dissuade the little fool from launching the attack?

Is Dubya being leveraged, or did he cave in, or what?

Puzzlin' evidence.

[C_U_L8R]

12. Y'know that political capital that

Chimpy went all ape about...

Well it's all gone.

Junior's being sent to his room.
The grown-ups are gonna
come in .. clean up and take over.

[saltpoint]

13. Hi, C_U_L8R. I think you're right. I liked your line, "Junior's being

sent to his room."

I get the feeling that he's not likin' it much, but I also get the feeling that he's not being given a wide choice in the matter.

Enter stage right (Far Right): Jim Baker, The Fixer.

[rodeodance]

15. I think Jr is realizing he needs all the help he can get. Condi has not

been able to do much.

[saltpoint]

23. Sy Hersh's most recent piece in the NEW YORKER mentioned that

Rice and Rumsfeld are not friends. Defense is well-funded and State is under-funded, so Powell and Rumsfeld's already-tense relationship was made worse because Defense trumps State in the hierarchy, in part because the bucks aren't there at State.

I think you're right on Condiliar, rodeodance. She is strangely ineffective, no matter the level of department funding. She's a Russian scholar, I believe, and I'm not exactly sure how that bolsters her stature as a Middle East problem-solver. "She doesn't know the territory," to rip off a famous musical.

[rodeodance]

16. says Condi originally resisted but now OK with it.

Two officials involved in setting up the study group, who were granted anonymity because they did not want to be associated with criticism of Ms. Rice, said she resisted it and was unimpressed with its potential to come up with alternatives to what the administration had already been doing.

But Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said Ms. Rice was enthusiastic and is "going to make sure that the State Department provides everything they need to complete their work."

[rodeodance]

17. Perry, Rudy Giuliani, Sandra Day O'Conner, others are also in the group.

..
Among their team are William J. Perry, a former defense secretary under President Clinton; former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York; the former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor; and Vernon E. Jordan Jr., a longtime civil rights leader, Washington power broker and confidant of President Clinton.

What gives Mr. Baker's role weight, however, is that while he has never publicly deplored the decision to go to war, he wrote in his memoirs that he had opposed ousting Saddam Hussein in the Persian Gulf war in 1991 out of concern that it would have led to an Iraqi civil war, international resentment of the United States and eventual loss of American support for an occupation. He has told colleagues that he feels vindicated.

[rodeodance]

18. its called the "Iraq Study Group"

The Iraq Study Group is receiving funds from Congress with the help of Mr. Wolf, who is chairman of the appropriations subcommittee in the House that controls the budget of the State Department. The group has several subgroups, including a set of retired military commanders.

It is getting staff assistance from four academic and policy centers: the United States Institute of Peace, a government-financed entity; the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington; the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston; and the Washington-based Center for the Study of the Presidency.

Completing the team selected by Mr. Baker and Mr. Hamilton are Robert M. Gates, a former director of central intelligence; Leon E. Panetta, Mr. Clinton's onetime chief of staff; former Senator Charles S. Robb, a Virginia Democrat; and former Senator Alan K. Simpson, a Wyoming Republican.

Some officials involved in the study group say the mission reflects a growing realization inside the Bush administration that the course in Iraq is not working, and dissatisfaction with a foreign policy team that has not successfully trained the Iraqi military or brokered a political order that could win confidence of Iraq's disparate sectarian groups.

[yellowcanine]

24. Things are going badly so let's send the biggest thief and liar of all

to assess the situation......Makes sense to me. :sarcasm:

[yurbud]

29. Difference between Baker and Bush is Baker can rape you and you'll say

thank you (and mean it).

Bushies are so greedy and ham-handed that we can see what they are doing too easily.

Baker and Papa Bush were smooth enough to make geopolitical plunder look like a vital matter of national security.

[Rose Siding]

28. I like Josh Marshall's commentary on this development

Marx tells us that history happens first as tragedy, and then a second time as farce. But he leaves us entirely at sea when it comes to the seventh or eighth time. So, really, what are we to make of the news that James A. Baker is leading an elder-statesman fact finding mission to Iraq to "generate new ideas on Iraq."

Perhaps we need Nietzsche's Eternal Recurrence more than Eighteenth Brumaire because, haven't we been through this movie before?

Didn't we do this back in like 2003? Baker was going to kick everything into shape on Iraqi debt forgiveness. Not quite sure whatever became of that.

The Times bandies about the comparison between this Baker mission and Lyndon Johnson's calling back of Dean Acheson as he, Johnson, began to seriously question and eventually abandon his policy in Vietnam. The Times concedes that the analogy is "far from perfect." But that seems like rather an understatement.
.......
...{Bush's failures} stem from his weaknesses -- his inability to summon the courage to make tough decisions, his addiction to sycophants, his penchant for denial.

We'd be fools to expect any change when the president lacks the guts to recognize his failures let alone try to fix them.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008291.php

[yurbud]

30. they could crank up the assassination of reporters and keep them out of

the country all together.

That seemed to work for the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Then once the cameras were gone, the slaughter could get serious.

[yurbud]

31. I hope these assholes get a lungful of depleted uranium dust our troops &

Iraqis have to breathe everyday.

Let them stay as long as they want to study the problem.

Too bad they are all to old to have babies with flippers or no spines as happens to Iraqis and returning vets.

[DemoTex]

32. One big "happy" circle-jerk!

James Baker's sister is married to Harry Whittington. Harry Whittington was shot in the face and neck by a possibly-drunk VP Dick Cheney on a ranch owned by Katherine Armstrong. Katherine Armstrong is a registered lobbyist with strong ties to James Baker's Houston law firm, Baker-Botts, and other Oil Patch concerns. Get the picture?