Former Secretary of State James Baker III, a longtime Republican strategist, is preparing recommendations that President George W. Bush reconsider his strategy in Iraq. Referring to a bipartisan commission he co-chairs, Baker said, We are taking a look at other alternatives. With his remarks to ABC News on Sunday, Baker joined a growing list of prominent Republicans critical of Bush s Iraq strategy in the weeks leading to congressional elections on November 7. But Baker agrees in part with the Bush administration. If we picked up and left right now, Iraq would fall into the biggest civil war you ve ever seen, with Turkey, Iran, Syria, and other neighboring countries getting involved, he said. According to Baker, proposals the Iraq Study Group is preparing likely would be ready and made public when Congress returns after the November elections. He said the findings would not be released before the elections to avoid politicizing them. Bush has repeatedly asserted he intends to stay the course in Iraq, despite growing casualties and failure of Iraqi security forces to suppress violence. Baker did not discus specific proposals that might be adopted by the commission, saying only that our commission believes there are alternatives between staying the course and a rapid troop evacuation. Baker also questioned the Bush administration s policy of not talking to Iran or Syria. He said he made 15 trips to Damascus as secretary of state and that Syria eventually joined the U.S.-organized coalition that drove Iraq out of Kuwait.
