Baker’s Latest Assignment; tell Bush we lost

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Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:48:16 -0600

Baker's Latest Assignment; tell Bush we lost

 

(Baker's fingerprints have been all over this war and all of the side

business deals from day one.)

 

Baker's Latest Assignment; tell Bush we lost

Mike Whitney

 

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March 20, 2006

 

The cracks and fissures are finally beginning to appear in Fortress

Bush. The AP is reporting that Congress quietly appointed an " Iraq

Study Group " headed by James A. Baker to " assess the Bush

administration's policies in Iraq and political and economic

developments in the troubled country " . In other words, Baker has been

picked to tell Bush that the war is over; we lost.

 

The group was voted into being with little fanfare to spare the White

House any unnecessary embarrassment, but the message is clear; the

adults are finally stepping in. The war has been so appallingly

mismanaged that jittery American elites are forcing themselves back

into the policy-making apparatus.

 

The group is led by Bush-family friend and consigliore, James Baker

who helped the president squeak-by in election 2000 by convincing the

Supreme Court that his client (George Bush) would suffer " irreparable

harm " if the legally cast Florida ballots were counted. Now, Baker has

returned, leading a team of disgruntled government big-wigs and

policy-wonks to see if they can extricate the recalcitrant executive

from his Babylon folly. The move illustrates the widening chasm

between American elites and the White House over the bungled handling

of the war. In the last two weeks, die-hard conservatives William

Buckley and Francis Fukuyama " bailed out " decrying the present policy

as a failure and urging the administration to change course.

 

Just days ago, Carter's National Security Advisor, Zbigniew

Brzezinski, a foreign policy giant and master of American-style

Realpolitik, added his voice to the growing chorus of nay-sayers;

opining that it was time for the withdrawal of American troops. It is

unlikely that Buckley, Fukuyama, or Brzezinski would concede defeat if

it was just a matter of wiping out another 100,000 Iraqis or so. Their

judgment is predicated on the simple fact that the U.S. will not win.

 

The newly-formed Baker group consists of political insiders and

powerbrokers who typically work behind the scenes to guide the ship of

state in a corporate-friendly direction. Members include former New

York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, head of the Woodrow Wilson Center, Lee

Hamilton, former CIA Director Robert Gates, former Clinton advisor

Vernon Jordan, former Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta, former

Defense Secretary William Perry, former Senator of Virginia Chuck

Robb, and Former Senator of Wyoming Alan Simpson.

 

Traditionally, the real power in Washington derives from a core of

elites who hale from the various think-tanks and semi-secret

organizations (particularly the 4,200 member Council on Foreign

Relations CFR) that provide the financial support for congressional

campaigns and political maneuvering. This new commission represents a

departure from their normal modus operandi of working behind the

scenes. That implies that the situation is graver than we think. Baker

would never humiliate the president unless the plutocrats were running

scared, but Bush has given them little choice. The deteriorating

situation in Iraq and the thickheaded disregard for differing opinions

has raised the level of angst among Baker's friends and precipitated a

major crisis.

 

The group is put together to look like a " fact-finding " mission, but

it's not hard to figure out what's going on. All of the members are

well-connected with contacts on ground in Iraq as well as in the

military. They know what is going on in Iraq; it's a mess, that's why

they have decided to break with precedent and jump in headfirst.

 

The group will probably produce a document that will tell the nation

that the 'war has been lost' and we should prepare to leave

immediately. There's no telling what the media's response will be.

Some will see it as a conspiracy by panicky Americans Mandarins who

want to wrest power from the small cadres of fanatics and neocons that

surround the president. In fact, that is exactly the case.

 

In just six years Bush has enraged enemies, alienated allies,

increased terrorism, eviscerated America's moral authority, and

savaged the military. In fact, military equipment is deteriorating at

five times the normal rate and many soldiers are now headed for their

forth tour in Iraq. Baker knows that this situation is not sustainable.

 

He'll try to pile up enough facts to make his case before the American

people hoping administration die-hards will see the light. It won't be

easy.

 

It's likely that the group will make concrete suggestions concerning a

timetable for complete withdrawal, a plan to remove troops from all

Sunni cities, negotiations with high-ranking members of the Iraqi

resistance, appeals for international assistance, and

stealth-agreements for future oil concessions.

 

There are many glaring ironies about Baker's involvement in the

present coup. Baker not only led the charge in the 2000 election; he

also headed the Independent Task Force on Strategic Energy Policy

Challenge for the 21st Century for the Council on Foreign Relations.

As Lawrence Shoup reports in " The CFR Debates Torture " ( Z Magazine

March 2006) " Fifty one task force members, many of them connected to

the oil industry, signed the report which reached a consensus on a

number of questions. The first general conclusion was that 'a new era

of energy scarcity' was upon the world…presenting fundamental

obstacles to continued economic growth and prosperity. … "

 

The report advised the forming of an " interagency process to

articulate and promote energy security policy " …noting that the Bush

administration has moved has moved rapidly in this direction through

the creation of the White House Energy Policy Development Group headed

by Vice President Dick Cheney " .( Lawrence Shoup; " The CFR Debates

Torture " )

 

This was the beginning of the dividing up of Iraq according to future

contracts with the oil giants. (all behind closed doors) This suggests

that it was James A. Baker who provided the report to the Council on

Foreign Relations (CFR) that persuaded them that 'something had to be

done about Iraq'.

 

Now he's back telling them its time to quit.

 

Baker's new assignment is to loosen the madman's grip on the nations'

steering wheel and glide the people's-wagon back to safety. Expect to

see Baker looking a lot like Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill.

 

After years of struggle, Baker and company have finally created the

one-party system of their dreams with a government that is

unaccountable to the people, the law, or its political base.

Unfortunately, he's about to learn what others have known for some

time; the nation is in the vice-like grip of homicidal maniacs who

have no intention of relinquishing power or admitting defeat.

 

Courtesy and copyright © Mike Whitney