Bush Looks for an Exit

These proposals will push Bush's buttons because they come from outsiders. Vice President Dick Cheney in particular has long resisted outside interference in foreign policy. But last week it was internal interference that upended the Administration's best-laid plans. Bush had no sooner arrived in Amman, Jordan, for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki than the New York Times published the full text of a memo to Bush from his National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley portraying al-Maliki as isolated, powerless and out of touch with the realities of his country and unable to affect them. This is hardly surprising for a man who can barely leave his home without American logistical support, but the leaked memo from somewhere in the Bush Administration sank the President's plans for a take-charge summit. Al-Maliki abruptly canceled his planned meeting with Bush--a snub for which there is no well-known precedent--and waited until the following morning to have breakfast and a shortened, 45-min. session with him. There was little chemistry in that encounter; by all accounts al-Maliki looked sour and lost. During a short photo break, al-Maliki refused to look at Bush, and the President had to initiate a handshake between them. Ignoring the previous day's discourtesy, Bush declared al-Maliki "the right guy for Iraq," a thumbs-up that did nothing for the Prime Minister's credibility at home, where an endorsement from the U.S. President may be the kiss of death. Bush then offered his first official reaction to the Baker-Hamilton proposals. "There's a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there's going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq. We're going to stay in Iraq to get the job done, so long as the government wants us there. This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all."

INSIDE THE COMMISSION

REALISM WAS EXACTLY WHAT THE PEOPLE who cooked up the commission had in mind when they set the bipartisan operation in motion more than a year ago. The review began as an earmark--a $1 million insertion into an appropriations bill by Republican Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia, who had gone to Iraq last year and decided U.S. policy wasn't working or, as he put it, needed "fresh eyes." He slotted the money to the U.S. Institute of Peace, whose president, Richard Solomon, joined two CEOs Wolf trusted to organize the study: David Abshire, of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and John Hamre, who runs the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Those three settled on Baker and Hamilton as chairmen. Hamilton agreed, but Baker wanted Bush's blessing--and he wanted to let Bush know he might not like the outcome.