Word: hamilton
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...Administration officials had indicated they were eager to embrace the findings of the Iraq Study Group, led by Baker, the former Secretary of State, and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, if they were consistent with the President's principles. Now, though, Bush seems headed toward coming with his own strategy, based on an array of recommendations. The officials would not say, and perhaps the White House has not decided, whether the President's plan will take the form of a single announcement or a series of speeches about helping Iraq make progress toward governing, sustaining and defending itself - the White House...
...Gates--he is about to take over the Pentagon and the day-to-day responsibilities for a war gone bad. He brings to the task one advantage: he was a key member of the special commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Indiana Representative Lee Hamilton that has been cooking up options for what to do next. Gates was involved in the military end of the commission's work--which means, says a colleague, that "not only will he understand the proposals, he will know the origins of them...
Baker and Hamilton held dozens of listening sessions this summer and fall, but members for the most part were careful not to stake out their positions. With a tentative mid-December deadline just a couple of weeks away, the decision-making process is just beginning. Commission members, said a close adviser, "are just now trying to make sense of what they heard, what the choices are and who stands where on those choices." While a Baker-led deal is still a good bet, several sources said, the odds that the commission will be unable to provide a clear user...
...best to choreograph all this? Jim Baker. The Iraq Study Group, which he chairs with Lee Hamilton, plans to recommend a process along these lines, and his associates say that Baker would be willing to help implement it as a special envoy if the President offers him enough authority. That might be resisted by Elliott Abrams, the National Security Council staffer who coordinates Middle East policy, and Baker would not accept the job unless this is resolved. But Condoleezza Rice, who has pushed for a comprehensive diplomatic approach to the region, might be supportive, even enthusiastic. She knows that...
...Post's peerless Pentagon reporter, this morning disclosed the Joint Chiefs' three-option approach for what to do next (no big surprises there: stay put, add troops, get out); and in a few weeks, the commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Indiana Democrat Lee Hamilton will brief the President and then the public on its findings...