The Baker Report: Pulling No Punches

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The "Internal Approach," as the commission couched the military and political reforms in Iraq, will be difficult enough for Bush to swallow. The "External Approach" the panel recommends would have the Administration's entire foreign policy apparatus pointed in a new direction for the next two years. Engaging Iran and Syria would be just the start. The Baker-Hamilton commission recommends "a new diplomatic offensive" that would include creating an Iraq International Support Group made up of all Iraq's neighbors, Europe and Asia. There would also be a new U.S. diplomatic initiative for "a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts." That means not just peace between Palestinians and Israelis, but also peace in Lebanon and an agreement that would have Israel returning the Golan Heights to Syria.

Wow! Hamilton insisted at Wednesday's press conference unveiling the report that "a comprehensive approach has to be taken." Iraq can't be solved in a vacuum, he argued. "Everything in the Middle East is connected to everything else."

True. But comprehensive diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East have never been too successful. The Clinton Administration tried for eight years to strike an Israeli-Palestinian-Syrian accord similar to what the commission proposes, and it failed. Prospects for a peaceful and stable Lebanon appear equally dim. Iran and Syria don't want to see Iraq's turmoil spilling across their borders, but they also don't seem to be in any mood to bail out George Bush. For his part, Bush has preferred to keep his distance from the Arab-Israeli peace process and so far he's been loath to engage Iran and Syria.

The President gave the study group's members a polite hearing during a private meeting Wednesday morning before the report was made public. But he's made it clear he considers the report's recommendations among many he'll be considering for a course change in Iraq. Congressional Democrats also said the report will be one of many they'll mull in charting their Iraq proposals.

But the Baker-Hamilton commission, whose members began a media blitz after the report's release, believes just as strongly that the Administration, the Congress and the country must now come together on a new strategy for Iraq. One of the commission members, former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, says he told Bush in their private meeting Wednesday morning, "This war has badly divided this country. It's divided Republicans from Democrats and to some extent the President from the people." The recommendations the Iraq Study Group have made are complicated and difficult to carry out. They don't come with a guarantee of success. But five Republicans and five Democrats could agree on them, so maybe Congress and the White House should as well, the study group members argued. Says Panetta: "This country cannot be at war and be as divided as we are today."