A Study in Overreach
Iraq Study Group, Part Two
By streiff Posted in War — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
the unofficial avatar for the ISG
In today's press conference with Tony Blair, President Bush opined:
"I don't think Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton expect us to accept every recommendation," Bush said of the study group's co-chairmen.
Whoa. Hold on. Not so fast.
The chairmen of the Iraq Study Group told a Senate panel Thursday that its report on the "deteriorating situation" in Iraq must be viewed as a whole and not piecemeal.
"I hope we don't treat this like a fruit salad and say, 'I like this, but I don't like that,' " former Secretary of State James Baker told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "These are interdependent recommendations we make."
Chutzpah. Hubris. Arrogance. And mouthbreathing stupidity.
Read on.
The recommendations are not interdependent in any sense other than Baker, Hamilton, et al perceive themselves to be in charge of American foreign policy at this moment. In fact, most of the recommendations only have a tangential relationship with reality. If Baker will explain to me how having the Iraq Central Bank raise interest rates to 20% is interdependent with Israel agreeing to surrender I’d like to hear about it.
As much as I hate to say it, John McCain (R-Media) seems to see it the same way.
McCain also expressed problems with the notion of sitting down with Iran and Syria, saying, "I don't believe that a peace conference with people who are dedicated to your extinction has much short-term gain."
And our favorite Dem, Joe Lieberman was also blinking rapidly:
The Connecticut Democrat said he was concerned that Iran supports Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Islamic organization that the U.S. considers a terrorist group, and that the Islamic republic provides sophisticated explosives to militias in Iraq. Lieberman further explained he is "skeptical that it's realistic to think that Iran wants to help the United States succeed in Iraq."
But Baker has a trump card to play with those who refuse to cooperate. Like, for instance, the Iranians.
If Iran declines, "then we will hold them up to public scrutiny as the rejectionist state that they have proven to be," Baker said.
Wow. I’ll bet you could hear sphincters slamming shut all over Tehran when he said that.
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Liberals and the MSM celebrating Brent Skowcroft and James Baker III. Who'da thunk?
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""What's interesting is they're beginning to understand that, with victory comes responsibility..." - Pres. GW Bush
They're exactly the kind of country-club Republicans and "reasonable" conservatives the MSM loves.
By the way, the most *unusual* interpretation of the ISG report I have yet seen comes from Dkos, where a diary appeared positing the idea that the ISG Report is actually a very cleverly constructed set of stimuli which, when read by Bush, will trigger a psychotic episode. This in turn will reveal to those benighted Americans who still don't get it that Bush is insane.
I believe this is what's called "projection."
You have had a magnificent set of stories on the travesty known as the ISG report. Thanks for taking the time to dissect it. And the fools who wrote it.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
So stupid is Baker that he thinks a) Iran can be embarrassed into negotiating and b) Iran would negotiate in any meaningful sense. They would simply say,
Evil men hide from the truth, but good men stand upon it.