Second Thoughts on the Baker Boys – Brilliant??

I’ve taken several pot shots at Jim Baker and the Iraq Study Group, but after watching the appearance of Baker and Lee Hamilton on Fox News Sunday, I’m thinking of changing my mind.

There may be some real genius behind the workings and the recommendations of the ISG after all. They have made so many recommendations, and they are so wide ranging and even somewhat contradictory, that there is something in there for everyone. What we need more than anything else – more than a brilliant strategy and maybe more than more troops – is unity and time.
The liberal press and the Democrats have endorsed and highly praised the ISG, probably because it indicts the current Bush policy in Iraq as a failure, even though it endorses the strategy of stabilizing Iraq and helping to provide long-range security to that country.

The main, although unspoken, goals of the ISG may really be to gain support from most Americans for policy changes that have a better chance of succeeding, and time for President Bush to implement those changes. In accomplishing these objectives the ISG may be key in holding off a widespread clamor to get the troops out and action by the new Democrat Congress to cut off funds – like they did in Vietnam to our everlasting shame and loss of backbone.

We can indeed talk to Iran and Syria about the Middle East – as long as our spokesmen are instructed to tell both countries to drop dead.