[governsleastgovernsbest]

I urge you to read this.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

If-you-read-only-one-thing-today ping to Today show list.

[Prince Charles]

First off, copies of the ISG report should be sent to Tehran and Damascus on the top of an ICBM.

[SE Mom]

I remember him well when he was Secretary of State- didn't trust him then, trust him even less now. I find it very unsettling that one of his pals is about to become Secretay of Defense.

The old guard is being brought back- and I fear the results.

[PGalt]

AS SECRETARY of state from 1989 to 1992, James Baker was involved in some of the worst foreign-policy blunders of the first Bush administration.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Over at NewsBusters, I've now blogged on Jacoby's column, juxtaposing with Frank Rich's column of today.

http://newsbusters.org/node/9406

[goldstategop]

The conclusion is exactly why the President lost the election: he failed to lay out to the American voters a strategy for victory. Its not too late to save the day. But only if the President is resolved to win rather than appease the enemy.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Over at National Review online, Jonah Goldberg yesterday sounded a theme similar to Jacoby's. See "We're Not Losers: It's not the war we hate":
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjY2NzM3MGExNmQzMjBhZjBlMzExYWMzM2JiYjlkNWU=

[kittymyrib]

From now on, it should be referred to as "The Baker Cut and Run Commission." Shame on America for squandering the blood of brave young soldiers, only to have the likes of James Baker and Lee Hamilton and Leon Panetta wave the white flag of surrender. Shame on Pres. Bush, for ordering this fig-leaf, size Small, to hide the naked truth that the US does not have the will to win. Our enemies all over the world are rejoicing.

[Paige]

Baker is not a friend of Israel. I do not like to see him called in to do anything. I don't care how experienced he is or what is credentials may be, for this man is to never be trusted.

[Right_in_Virginia]

BTTT

[MadJack]

Someone refresh my memory, please.
Is this the Baker who denigrated us simple folks out in the Hinterlands as "Joe Sixpack?"

[Urbane_Guerilla]

I respect Jacoby tremendously, but his column contains some dangerous garbage.

First, no number of troops can stop the sort of violence that is going on in Iraq, and the violence will not be stopped without a legitimate government which includes all sides working together. As far as I can tell, that is not going to happen. Perhaps an American military dictatorship would work, but that is not going to happen either.

Second, the increase in violence is NOT because of the belief that America is going to withdraw, as much as that plays a part.

The violence started the day after mohammed died, when Ali was not made leader. It continues to this day, and will always continue until islam dies, as it must die. In Iraq, you are simply seeing true, authentic mohammed-worship in action. To the shia, sunnis are infidels, and vice-versa. Where there is islam, there is violence, and always be violence, because that is what islam requires, with the promise of eternal sex orgies devoutedly believed by the idiotic jihadis.

It is amazing that even conservative writers do not yet grasp this fact.

[McGavin999]

Why is everyone so worried about the study group? President Bush isn't going to do what they say. He's going to thank them for their wise council and then go ahead and do what he planned to do all along.

[FreedomNeocon]

The "Baker Commission" boils down to: 'How to negotiate a surrender with Iran/Syria on Iraq. What they want us to do / give them in order for them to stop supporting the violence there.'

Its pathetic.

[elhombrelibre]

The article is an excellent reminder of what's wrong with the realists school of foreign policy; it's good that we remember that Baker's policies put the US on the side of the dictators nearly every time. It may help assure stability, but it undermines liberty. It may make us popular with cynical old Europe, but it will make us even more unpopular with those who sufferer under the gangster statesman that the perpetually-grinning Baker is so willing to accommodate. It also saps the morale of our forces. How many Americans will fight and die for stability? Americans will fight to protect their nation, to protect freedom, and so their children won't have to do it. But they won't fight so Assad's safe.

[FastCoyote]

I am not going to sweat a lot of the crap, like the Baker Commission. The fact is we are in a 20 to 100 year war with Islam that isn't going to be changed by anything short of a brutal extermination of Mecca. So, the left can retreat all they want, it means nothing in the long term.

[humint]

But I would wager that countless Americans are upset with Bush, not because he isn't skedaddling from Iraq quickly enough, but because he seems to have no serious strategy for winning. It is losing that Americans have no patience for -- not casualties or a protracted war. Let Bush make it clear that he is serious about victory, and that he will do whatever it takes to achieve it, and the political support will follow.

This is the crux of dissociating good leadership from bad in the midst of a national or international crisis. Responsibilities cannot be abandoned simply because the effort to live up to them is uncomfortable. Great post.

[hinckley buzzard]

Let Bush make it clear that he is serious about victory, and that he will do whatever it takes to achieve it, and the political support will follow.

There was a lengthy timeframe when this would have been true, but I doubt it now. Bush has lost the momentum and the initiative in the WoT, precisely because our tactics have not conveyed decisiveness since Saddam's statue fell. If he tries to go through that window now that it is closed, all he will gain is broken glass and a headache from the 'rat Congress.

We need to continue to strengthen the Iraqis as much as possible, and be in no hurry to go home, but ready or not, it really is up to the Iraqis now.

[AmericaUnite]

Someone should shout at Baker "Your a racist and an anti-Semite".

Or is it, "Your indifferent to the racism and anti-Semitism that is Islamofascism?"

[DonnerT]

Mark