USA/FILE: U.S. President George W. Bush says he is looking forward to Iraq Study Group report but says decision will be based on "conditions on the ground."

President George W. Bush, under pressure from Democrats to change course in Iraq, sat down on Monday (November 13) with members of a bipartisan group charged with trying to find ways to bring peace to Iraq. Bush met with the two chairmen of the Iraq Study Group, former Secretary of State James Baker, a Republican with close ties to the Bush family, former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, and the 10 other members. The independent panel is writing a report for presentation to Bush and the U.S. Congress next month that experts believe could offer the president a way for a change of tactics in Iraq. Its work has attracted great interest by both parties after the opposition Democrats' sweeping victory last week that gave them control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Bush spoke about his meeting with the Study Group after a photo opportunity with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was also visiting the White House Monday. "They want us to succeed in Iraq, just like I want to succeed. And so we had a really good discussion. I'm not sure what the report is going to say. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I believe this: I believe that it's important for us to succeed in Iraq, not only for our security, but for the security of the Middle East, and that I'm looking forward to interesting ideas," Bush said. Democrats are already vowing to use their newfound majority power to press for U.S. troop reductions in Iraq in a matter of months, an option Bush adamantly opposed during the just-ended congressional campaign season. It might be seen as an adjustment for President George W. Bush, who says that he doesn't usually talk to his father about politics. But while the current President has employed notable figures such as Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell in his administration, some analysts say his style is more ideological, and less pragmatic than his father's. "W. and Karl Rove came into office wanting to use the father as a reverse playbook, and their whole foreign policy is a rebuke to the father's foreign policy," New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd said, referring to the current White House political leader, Karl Rove. Baker's return to the White House, even in a limited role, may indicate that after problems in Iraq, and recent Democratic election wins, President George W. Bush is ready to change his foreign policy tact. Christian Alfonsi wrote a book about the first Gulf War. He says the current President Bush respects Baker, even if he doesn't always agree with him. "It's an arms-length relationship. It's one where he knows that Baker is, and this is to Baker's credit, the consummate political fixer of his generation, and the great wiseman of Republican politics. So he needs him, from time to time, for the real big things: fixing Iraq, fixing the Florida recount and so forth," Alfonsi said. Despite his expertise, many wonder if Baker and the Iraq Study Group can propose anything that could make a significant difference in Iraq. Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell is a veteran diplomat with a track record of success in Ireland. "I doubt any combination of persons can turn it around, in a sense that it's going to produce some startling success, or as the President keeps saying, 'victory,'" Mitchell said. White House spokesman Tony Snow offered few details of the discussion except to say the commission was yet not presenting its alternatives to the president. Commission members also planned to sit down with Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, CIA Director Michael Hayden, national intelligence director John Negroponte, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq. On Tuesday (November 14), the commission is to meet Democratic leaders and will have a video conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. One approach reportedly being considered by the panel was for Washington to open a dialogue with Iran and Syria, accused by the Bush administration of supporting terrorism and fanning instability in neighbouring Iraq.

ITN Source | November 14, 2006

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